When will the UK’s summer weather improve?

The UK is predicted to be hotter than Barcelona in the next few days, forecasters have said.

According to the Met Office, temperatures will rise to as much as 25C by Thursday and Friday as the wet and cool conditions experienced for most of June start to disappear. Temperatures on Monday are also set to reach high of 25C – one degree higher than what is expected in Barcelona.

The warmer weather comes after the Met Office said temperatures across the UK for June so far were between three and four degrees below average.

It has left Britons asking when the cold weather will finally be replaced by some sunshine.

When will the UK’s summer weather improve?

In a press release issued on Monday, the Met Office said: "There's a shift in the UK's weather this week."

It said the change will be caused by a strengthening of the jet stream, generated by temperature contrasts in North America, with a ridge of high pressure moving across the UK.

The westerly wind will bring temperatures back up to their June average and will even get above that later in the week.

The Met Office said temperatures will "likely peak" at around 24°C or 25°C on Thursday and Friday in the south.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Dan Harris said: “In stark contrast to the first half of June, where temperatures have widely been below average, we are expecting to see a steady uptick through the second half of this week, rising to around or above average, and it will likely feel very warm for those in the sunshine."

However, he warned: “This initial spell of warm conditions isn’t expected to last too long however, as it turns more changeable through Friday and into the weekend with areas of cloud and rain spilling east across the UK.”

Is this the wettest summer so far?

Despite the seemingly endless rain, June hasn't been any wetter than average, although the Met Office warned this could change.

Last month, the Met Office dismissed reports there would be up to 50 days of rain this summer, which would be close to the record of 55 days set more than 100 years ago in 1912.

Will there be a UK heatwave and when?

The Met Office has consistently ruled out predictions of a heatwave from independent forecasters this summer and has been proven correct on each occasion. For example, earlier this month some weather services were predicting highs of 28C on Thursday 13 June, when the temperature that day did not get above 16C.

The Met Office says the UK heatwave threshold is met when a location records a period of "at least three consecutive days" with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold.

The threshold ranges from 25C in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to 28C in London and parts of the south and south east of England.

Why is the weather so bad this summer?

The cool June temperatures have been caused by a change in the jet stream, the strong winds blowing from west to east, which have been located further south than usual this summer, bringing cooler winds from the Arctic that has lowered UK temperatures.

Whether things change much through the rest of June and into July and the UK finally enjoys a proper summer remains to be seen, but the signs for the next few days are finally positive.

Read more

• When is the next UK heatwave going to be? (Yahoo News UK)

• Europe swelters in heatwaves while UK remains cool – what's going on with the weather? (Sky News)