It looks like spring has finally arrived.
Leeds can look forward to basking in the sunshine as temperatures are set to increase this week to highs of 18°C.
Forecasters at the Met Office have said there will be “plenty of sunny spells to come and temperatures will rise a little bit” in the week ahead.
After what had been a dry and sunny couple of days at the end of last week and over the weekend, the warmest day of the year so far was recorded in Kinlochewe in Highlands of Scotland on Saturday, when temperatures hit 20.2°C and beat the previous highest temperature of the year, 17.5°C, which was recorded in the village of Wiggonholt in West Sussex on Friday.
Highs of 18°C are expected in Leeds on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Most of England is then predicted to stay at around 17°C or 18°C throughout the rest of the week and into the weekend – which will be warmer than the average for the end of March – but according to forecasters, the north of the UK is more realistically predicted to see highs of between 9°C and 12°C.
Here’s a forecast for the weather for the week ahead: dry and bright by day, cold and frosty by night pic.twitter.com/vVZsv15vLR
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 20, 2022
Temperatures are expected to remain above average into next weekend, but will then drop slightly during the final few days of March.
But why are we getting this uncharacteristic warm weather? What is the reason for it?
Well, according to Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst, the warm conditions are due to the jet stream tracking to the north of the UK, which is letting high pressure dominate from the east.
He said: “This week is going to be very similar. We’re going to keep high pressure just to the east of the UK and that means it will be largely dry and settled with plenty of sunny spells.
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“There is the odd exception, there could just be an isolated shower across the Midlands on Monday, perhaps northern England on Tuesday, but they’re going to be very isolated and most places will be dry and sunny.”
Featured Image – Gary Butterfield, Unsplash
