UK weather: Temperatures could reach 17C this week but heavy rain is forecast

The UK could experience temperatures of up to 17C this week, forecasters say.

The Met Office said temperatures in London may go as high as 16C or 17C on Friday, well above the average for November.

However, wet weather is also forecast for this week, with some areas expected to see between 40mm and 50mm of rainfall.

While the UK is in the middle of a warm autumn spell, the Met Office stepped back from branding it an “Indian summer”.

Britain will be a long way from the record temperatures for October and November.

Watch: Storm Aiden batters Britain

A temperature of 29.9C was recorded on 1 October, 2011, in Gravesend, Kent, while it was 22.4C on 1 November, 2015, at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion, Wales.

Much of the UK enjoyed temperatures in the mid-teens at the weekend.

The Met Office’s Grahame Madge told Yahoo News UK that London could see temperatures of 16C or even 17C on Friday, and that the warm weather is expected to continue into this weekend.

Maximum temperatures will be in double figures across the UK, he said.

“This is four or five degrees above where we should be for this time of year,” he said.

“The average for southern England is 10C or 11C.”

However, he said the warmer-than-usual temperatures could not be described as an “Indian Summer”, defined as a period of cold weather followed by a prolonged mini-heatwave.

Madge said the term was “rather vague” and “elusive”.

Heavy rain is also forecast, he said, with up to 50mm predicted in some areas.

At the end of last month, Britain was lashed by heavy rain and high winds brought by Storm Aiden.

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