Return to summer warmth marred by showers and grey skies

The weather won't be pretty in many areas but it will feel warm, forecasters say.

UK temperatures are set to continue climbing this week, though the skies aren’t quite back to proper summer form.

Highs of 25°C in the south and 22°C in the north are expected today, with most of the country hovering around the low twenties.

But showers are forecast across southern and central areas in the morning, with Kent and Essex facing rather heavy rainfall.

The general weather picture in the south is ‘a day of sunny spells and scattered showers’, the Met Office says, with more overcast skies in the Midlands and North.

Forecasters say it will generally ‘feel warm, especially in the sunshine’, with no more than a gentle breeze inland.

The weather is expected to become drier and brighter on Wednesday, with more consistent sunny spells and highs of 26°C.

A new weather front is expected to bring rain to most of the country on Thursday, starting in the west and pushing eastwards throughout the day, with highs of 23°C.

Friday is likely to be a similar story, though the rain will be lighter in most areas outside Wales.

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said the weather will settle again going into the weekend and next week.

He added: ‘It won’t be wall-to-wall sunshine and we’ll see rain in the north on Monday and the rest of the country on Thursday.

‘It also won’t be as hot as recent days but warmer than the start to July. It will be an improvement.

‘Overall, the south east and south are likely to see the warmest temperatures next week.’

The week’s weather will come as a relief to many following the baking 31°C felt in parts of the country on the hottest day of the year on Friday.

The first half of the month was marked by unusually wet weather, with the East and South East having seen almost double the typical rainfall for July.

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