UK weather: ‘Heatwave’ on the way with the UK set to be hotter than Barcelona

The sight of grey skies and gloomy weather has been all too familiar with people in the UK this year, but that is reportedly set to change with an imminent ‘heatwave’ bringing blue skies, sunshine and soaring temperatures.

The weather improved drastically around the Easter period, with a lovely spell of warmer weather but it was then back to normal for most of the UK with sub-par temperatures and a very wet spring.

The Met Office is predicting that the UK will be hotter than Spain this week with sunshine to last until at least Friday (May 19). Places such as London will see temperatures surpass 21C, and will not dip below 17C.

On Saturday (May 20), London is set to match the temperature in Barcelona and Madrid at 19C, but will then go one better on Sunday as it will be a degree warmer in the capital, with forecasters predicting the temperature should peak at 4pm.

The north of England is also set to enjoy some warm weather too. Manchester is set to reach highs of 19C by Sunday (May 21) and Monday (May 22). Leeds will also see a high temperature of 19C on Monday.

Despite temperatures slightly cooling down in coastal areas, places such as Margate and Southend will experience temperatures of 16C towards the back end of the week, rising to 18C by the weekend.

For the end of the week into the weekend, the Met Office says: “Mostly fine and dry with sunny spells, perhaps the odd afternoon shower. Cloudier with patchy rain affecting parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland at times. Temperatures rising a little.”

A long-range forecast from the Met Office, which covers from May 20 to May 29 says: “Into the weekend a high-pressure ridge is most likely to extend across the UK, resulting in a good amount of dry and bright weather for most

“Temperatures will most likely be above average overall, although most likely closer to average in the southeast.”