Britons basked in the spring sunshine on the hottest day of the year so far on Thursday, as temperatures reached highs of 19.2C.
The highest temperature was recorded in Northolt, London, and exceeded the previous hottest day of the year, when 18.7C was recorded at Kew Gardens last week.
It meant parts of the UK were hotter than Barcelona, with the Spanish city seeing highs of 16C.
Saharan dust is also being blown north across parts of Europe and towards Britain, bringing colourful skies and potential sights of “blood rain” on Thursday.
But this will be followed by a slight drop in temperature to highs of 15C in London and 9C in Manchester on Friday.
It comes as rain is expected across southeast England on Friday, with generally cooler temperatures across the country.
This winter was the wettest on record for the counties of Cornwall, Leicestershire and the West Midlands, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.
Dorset and Warwickshire had their second wettest winter since comparable records began in 1836, while southern England experienced its fourth wettest.
In the past three months, a string of low-pressure weather systems moved across the UK from the Atlantic, with repeated outbreaks of wet and windy conditions.
Three named storms in January – Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra – all brought downpours to many areas, leading to flooding and widespread travel disruption.
The rain persisted for much of February, although drier and sunnier conditions arrived towards the end of the month.
Weather forecast for the next five days:
Today:
Early brightness in the east, but rain will move slowly southeastwards across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some showery rain developing across west Wales and the west of England. Elsewhere, early mist clearing to a very mild, mostly sunny day.
Tonight:
Rain, with hill snow in the north, continuing southeastwards across the north and west of England and Wales. Dry with low cloud to the southeast. Clearer with frost further northwest.
Friday:
Rain will edge southeastwards across England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland look largely dry with some sunshine, reaching Wales and the north and west of England later. Generally cooler.
Outlook for Saturday to Monday:
Cloudy with patchy rain across central and southeast England, and northwest Scotland on Saturday. Fine elsewhere. Rather cloudy on Sunday and Monday with patchy rain. Often windy in the northwest.
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