UK weather: parts of country to be hotter than some Greek Islands - how warm it will be

Glorious sunshine and temperatures as high as 18C could make Easter Sunday the warmest day of the year so far.

Forecasters said high pressure moving across the UK has “timed itself nicely”, with sunny days expected over the bank holiday weekend. At 18C the country could be warmer than some Greek islands – including Santorini, Mykonos and Crete – where people may have flocked on their Easter holidays.

The Met Office warned Britons not to underestimate the strength of the sun, with UV levels as strong as the “back end of summer”, carrying the risk of sunburn. However, rain will arrive in Northern Ireland on Sunday, before sweeping across the rest of the country on Bank Holiday Monday, which is described as the “day to do anything you want indoors”.

Craig Snell, a Met Office forecaster, told the PA news agency: “Saturday is going to be another fine day for the vast majority. However, some of the eastern coast of Scotland and north-eastern England will remain disappointingly grey. Inland, the sun will be shining for a lot of the UK and it’s going to be a relatively reasonable Saturday out there; temperature-wise in the sunshine it will feel pleasantly warm, reaching as high as 17C in some parts.

“Then on Easter Sunday for a good chunk of the UK it’s going to be fairly reasonable, the only place we’ll probably see a change is Northern Ireland where it’ll turn increasingly breezy, cloudy and eventually damp. But for the most part it will be fairly sunny and temperatures may peak at around 18C – so, pleasantly warm out there.”

That would set a new warmest day for 2023, exceeding the current highest temperature of 17.8C on 30 March in the village of Santon Downham, Suffolk. David Oliver, a Met Office deputy chief forecaster, said: “During the second half of the Easter weekend the Atlantic will increasingly exert its influence.

“A frontal system is expected to move in from the west and displace the high pressure lying across the UK. This will spread rain across all areas during the latter part of Easter Sunday and through Easter Monday, although there is some uncertainty regarding its exact timing. Once the rain clears blustery showers are likely to follow in its wake across many areas.”

Monday will “be a slightly fresher day but nonetheless still relatively warm”, Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said. He told the PA news agency: “It’s going to be the North West basically late on Sunday that will see the heaviest rain.

“There will be some gales around coastal regions as well of Scotland and Northern Ireland, particularly later on Sunday, so from a travel point of view, if you are making travel plans, there may well be some temporary difficult driving conditions late on Sunday and perhaps in eastern areas on Monday as well but overall we don’t anticipate any warnings being necessary through this coming weekend.”

It comes as an estimated two million British holidaymakers are heading overseas during the Easter bank holiday weekend, according to travel trade organisation Abta, which calculated the figure. It said there is strong demand for trips to mainland Spain, the Canary and Balearic Islands, the Algarve, Madeira, Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, Greece and southern Turkey.

But holidaymakers closer to home have been warned they could face two-hour delays at the Port of Dover over the Easter weekend. People have been urged to “allow 120 minutes to complete border controls and check-in” at the Kent port as the double bank holiday weekend is expected to be “busy”, ferry operator DFDS said on Thursday.