UK weather: Met Office says when 'very warm spell' will hit after warning of thunderstorms

Brits will be treated to a 'very warm spell' of weather after a period of potential thunderstorms, according to the Met Office.

In its long-range forecast, the Met Office warned that rainy conditions will persist throughout much of next week, starting on Monday, April 29. This is expected to last throughout the first half of the week, with some parts of the country potentially facing 'thundery showers'.

While conditions remain unsettled, however, the Met Office said temperatures will likely increase significantly, bringing in some warm spells in southern and eastern parts of the country. After this, conditions should improve somewhat, becoming drier and cooler.

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Across Greater Manchester, temperatures will be relatively cool over the weekend, ranging from 5C to 11C maximum. However, things will get much warmer by the start of next week, with Monday currently set to see temperatures as high as 13C in the mid-afternoon.

Alongside this will be settled conditions with some small sunny intervals in the morning accompanied by predominately cloudy conditions for the rest of the afternoon and going into the evening. Later on in the week, there will be noticeably more sunny conditions, however, once again this will primarily be apparent in the early hours of the morning from 7am to 10am on Tuesday, April 30.

In its long-range forecast for April 30 to May 9, the Met Office said: "The weekend's rain probably clearing east and northeast to leave a drier day on Monday, although the chance of showers and even thunderstorms remains. Cloudier, wetter weather is likely to quickly arrive into the west, and slide east across southern areas early next week, such that the majority of the week will be characterised by wetter weather in southern UK, drier weather in northern, especially northwestern UK, and a chance of rain or even thundery showers for a time in the east.

"Temperatures likely to trend upwards, with the chance of a warm to very warm spell in some southern and eastern parts, before conditions probably turn drier, cooler and more settled from the west towards the end of the period."