UK Weather: Britain set to be warmer than Barcelona, Venice and Istanbul as Indian Summer arrives in October

The UK is set to be warmer than a whole host of European hotspots including Barcelona, Venice and Istanbul as an Indian summer is set to arrive in the UK and see temperatures soar after an underwhelming summer.

This comes just a day after it was revealed that the UK had its joint-warmest September on record, with a mean temperature of 15.2C, in a series which goes back to 1884 according to provisional Met Office statistics.

Despite being joint-warmest September on record, it was also wetter than average during the month. And early October could see temperatures ranging from early to mid 20Cs - some way off the record temperature for the UK in October which was 29.9C in Kent in 2011.

‘Indian Summer’ isn’t a formal meteorological term - but is described as ‘a warm, calm spell of weather occurring in autumn, especially in October and November.’ The phrase dates back to at least the 1700s.

The Met Office’s long-range weather forecast for October says: “A north/south split in conditions is likely across the UK early in the period. On Saturday, persistent rain is expected across northwest Scotland, accompanied with widespread strong winds in the north, with a chance of coastal gales.

“The rest of the country will remain mostly dry and fine, with south and southeastern areas seeing the best of the sunshine. Light winds expected further south. This north/south split is likely to continue into the start of the week, with temperatures in south probably unusually warm for October possible.

“These temperatures are likely to trend downward towards the middle of the month, with the northwest-southeast split also slowly becoming less distinct as the weather becomes generally more changeable.”