UK weather: sunny and warm weekend for most

Outdoor plans this weekend? There will be more early spring sunshine to bask in for the majority, with temperatures remaining well above the seasonal average.

With a glorious start to the meteorological spring, coming in like the proverbial lamb rather than lion, temperatures have risen thanks to increasingly mild air, boosted by plentiful sunshine and longer daylight hours.

On Thursday it was the warmest day of the year so far in England, Wales and Scotland with 19C recorded in Santon Downham in Suffolk and 18.2C in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion. The Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh reached 16.8C which is the highest on record at this station this early in the year.