Met Office weather: Weekend forecast after UK experiences changeable conditions and record breaking sunshine

Anyone planning outdoor activities this weekend to mark the end of half term could be dicing with dodgy weather. While temperatures continue to rise as the summer gets underway in the UK, Met Office forecasters are warning of some changeable conditions in the coming days.

Starting tonight, the weather experts say "low cloud and drizzle will persist across many western hills overnight", before "more persistent rain returns to the north and west, along with strengthening winds later" while elsewhere, there will be clear spells. For Friday, the forecasters said: "Rain clearing eastwards across northern areas, cloudy across central areas, with sunny spells and showers across the south. Temperatures near normal overall, but feeling warm in the southeast."

On Saturday, it’s looking like things might start to warm up, but not for long. They said: "Some very warm sunshine at first further south. Feeling warm, especially on Saturday, cooler from Sunday, and often breezy." From Saturday to Monday, the Met Office said there would be "showery rain", but "mainly in the north" of the country.

Temperatures would range between 18C and up to highs of around 23C, a spokesperson for the national weather service said, as many look to take advantage of the improving weather ahead of the return to school on Monday. However, the summary of the weekend forecast looks more encouraging, saying: "Patchy rain or showers through the period, but most places remaining dry with bright or sunny spells."

This more changeable weather follows news that Wales has had its sunniest spring on record, according to the Met Office. Some 648 hours of sunshine were clocked in the country between March 1 and May 28 – higher than the UK average.

Kathryn Chalk, a Met Office meteorologist, said the provisional figure beats the previous peak of 647 hours in 2020. The UK as a whole has clocked 636.8 hours of sunshine in spring this year, beating the 626 hours set in 2020.

Wales joins Scotland and Ireland in setting new peaks but England has not yet set a new record, Ms Chalk said. Met Office sunshine data goes back to 1910.

On Wednesday, Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: “We all remember the exceptionally sunny spring of 2020 but that title has now been surpassed by the spring of 2025. It has indeed been an extremely sunny and dry spring for the majority, but with a few days left of the season and more unsettled weather this week, it’s too early to say what will happen with other records.”