Britain is set for a sunny Easter bank holiday weekend, that could break national records, after temperatures almost topped 25C on Good Friday.
Under fine clear skies, most Brits can enjoy “dry, sunny and very warm conditions with temperatures rising” on Saturday and Sunday to a possible 26C and “maybe a 27C” on Easter Monday, Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said.
The Met Office said it is set to be “a glorious day” in most areas, but that outbursts of rain which are expected to clip north west Scotland on Saturday will be the exception.
The UK’s warmest Easter temperature was the 29.4C recorded at London’s Camden Square London on Easter Saturday in 1949.
The other warmest Easter weekend days include the 26.9C recorded at London’s St James’s Park on Good Friday in 2011 – when the mercury also reached 25.3C on Easter Sunday and 24C on Easter Monday, both in the Solent.
Ms Roberts said that these last two top temperatures are “ones to keep an eye on and could be broken” this weekend.
She said that the top temperature for this Good Friday was 24.5C at Wiseley in Surrey, ahead of plenty of varied sunshine for the rest of the UK.
Southern England and South Wales could wake up to some mist and fog, but that will burn away pretty quickly in the morning with the strong sunshine.
There is “a better picture” for north west Scotland on Easter Monday as they will lose the cloud and rain, according to Ms Roberts.
The 20.7C enjoyed in Aboyne, Scotland, in 2015, along with 21.6C in Brynamman, Wales, in 1984 and 19.4C in Armagh in Northern Ireland in 1924 are the top national temperatures recorded on Easter Sunday.
The warmest Easter Mondays recorded nationally were the 21.4C enjoyed in Culzean Caste, Scotland, in 2014, plus the 23.2C in Nantmoor in Wales and 21.1C in Knockarevan in Northern Ireland, both in 1984.
Bookmaker Ladbrokes has cut odds from 5/6 to just 8/11 for this year to see the hottest Easter Sunday on record.
Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: “Brits have been treated to a scorching start to the Easter weekend and things will only get hotter if the latest odds are anything to go by.”
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