Met Office weather: Warm sunshine for many, rain in the north

The working week begins with a largely fine and settled day for much of the UK.

On Monday, early low cloud and isolated fog patches in southern and western areas will soon lift, giving way to widespread sunshine, particularly across central England. Some shallow cumulus and stratocumulus cloud may develop in the south, but it will remain dry.

Further north and west, conditions are more unsettled. Western and northern Scotland will be cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle at times, a pattern that may also affect parts of Northern Ireland.

Despite this, temperatures will rise across much of the country, with central and eastern England seeing the warmest conditions. Highs of 23-25°C are expected widely, with isolated spots such as London, East Anglia, and Lincolnshire potentially reaching 26-27°C. In contrast, northwestern Scotland will remain much cooler under persistent cloud and rain, with highs limited to 11-14°C.

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A band of cloud and rain, locally heavy in western Scotland, will move southeastwards across Scotland and Northern Ireland overnight, weakening as it reaches northern England and southeastern Scotland by dawn. Central and southern areas will stay dry with clear spells, though isolated mist and low cloud may form. Winds will strengthen in the northwest, with a risk of gales in exposed areas.

Outlook for Tuesday

Tuesday sees the weakening band of cloud and patchy rain edging into northern England and north Wales. Behind it, brighter conditions will return to Scotland and Northern Ireland, though with a few showers in the north and west. The rest of England and Wales will enjoy another fine day with plenty of sunshine, especially in central, southern, and eastern areas, where it will feel very warm once again. Temperatures will peak in the mid-20s Celsius, with 27°C possible in the east.

The band of low cloud and isolated drizzle will linger across northern England and Wales. Elsewhere, it will be fine with clear spells and a few fog patches forming in the south. Northern areas will remain breezy with a few showers in northwest Scotland.

Met Office presenter and meteorologist, Jonathan Vautrey, said: "If you suffer from hay fever, don't forget those tissues and tablets when you head out today. Grass pollen levels are going to be quite widely high for many areas, locally very high across some in the southeast. And that is because most of us are going to see a fine, settled day with a decent number of sunny spells, particularly England and Wales holding on to that sunshine right throughout the day.

“There'll be some fair weather cloud bubbling up at times, cloud always lingering a little bit more for Northern Ireland, and there will be more in the way of outbreaks of rain for parts of western Scotland and a bit more of a brisk breeze around here as well. Temperatures held back underneath that rain in the northwest, mostly around mid-teens, but we'll be picking up towards 20°C for Northern Ireland, eastern Scotland, and feeling noticeably warm in that sunshine across areas of England and Wales, peaking around 25, 26°C in the east.

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“It'll be a calm end to the day for England and Wales also, with some late sunny spells. A few mist and fog patches may develop overnight, cloud always lingering for Northern Ireland, and we'll see further rain into northwestern Scotland during the overnight period. This could be heavy over the hills, and the winds will also strengthen here, potentially gale strength gusts during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“It's going to be a mild night for all of us though, temperatures comfortably around 12 to 15°C as we start off Tuesday morning. We'll watch on Tuesday as that band of rain slowly pushes its way south and eastwards, but it is going to be weakening as it does so. So increasingly, that rain will be fairly light and patchy. There'll be some sunny spells developing up towards the north and west, with a scattering of showers and quite prolonged sunshine still holding on down towards the south and east.

“It's here where we'll hold on to the heat, where we'll still again see 25, 26°C as the high. But it will start to feel that little bit more fresh up towards the north and west, more around high teens as your peak temperatures here. Once this weather front eventually moves out of the way, we are going to start to see high pressure build in more concretely across all areas of the UK.”

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