Britons could bask in the “warmest day of the year” as temperatures could hit 24C in parts of England this weekend, the Met Office has said.

Widespread sunshine is set to be present from the north of Scotland to the south of England, with just some patchy cloud in the North and West.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said Saturday could see “16-19C widely – with 24C the possible high in the South East and that would make it the warmest day of the year so far”.

However, the warm air could also likely spark a few heavy showers later.

“By Saturday evening, those showers would be making an appearance into the South West, spreading quite widely into southern parts of England and south Wales,” Mr McGivern said.

“In some places, it would just be a spell of rain but for central and southern England and the south coast there is the risk of some heavy downpours, thunderstorms and frequent lightning.”

Meanwhile, Sunday is predicted to be another warm day as hot air arrives from North Africa.

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The plume could lead to more above-average temperatures in most places in the UK over the next week, although the warm air could result in heavy or thundery showers also striking.

The Met Office said parts of the South East could potentially reach top temperatures of 25-27C next week.

Met Office spokesman Richard Miles added that “at the moment Tuesday looks like being the warmest day of the week”.

Heavy showers set to move across country

But heavy showers are set to move across the whole of the country, particularly in the north and west.

These might be thundery at times in parts of the south, central England and south-west Scotland.

Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said: “The plume of warm air we have been expecting from the south will bring higher temperatures across the whole country over the next week.

“However, it looks like the effects from the Atlantic lows will prevent sustained high pressure building from the east.

“This means that while we might see some warm – and in places very warm – days, overall the next week will feel more like what we would expect of a warm spell in May, with some heavy showers around, rather than hot summery weather.”

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