The UK has experienced a wild swing in temperatures with an “extraordinary” rise of almost 20 degrees celsius in just a few days.

So will the current milder weather in many parts continue for the rest of the week leading up to Christmas Day on Sunday?

Experts are forecasting that 25 December will most likely be mild with a risk of rain or showers in places for the south, especially the far south.

Any cold air and wintry conditions will most likely be confined to the north of the UK, they add, but caution that their predictions could change as Sunday is still five days away.

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Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, Dan Harris, said of the north-south split: “There are large uncertainties concerning where the boundary between these two air masses will eventually end up, especially as we head into the Christmas weekend.

“Confidence in the forecast is unlikely to increase until mid-week at the earliest and a range of outcomes are still possible.”

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From mid-week onwards, forecasters expect colder weather to arrive in the north, while the south hangs on to the mild conditions.

For today, Sky’s weather presenter Jo Wheeler said: “Temperatures will range from mid-single figures in the north to 10C to 12C in the south.

“Cloud will increase from the South West this evening with rain following in the early hours. Some of the rain will turn heavy, especially for Wales and northwestern England.”

She added that Wednesday “will be largely dry away from the north-west and central parts of Scotland where showers will continue”.

“Temperatures will be down another degree or so with northern parts seeing values between 4C and 6C whilst the south could see 9C or 10C.”

After Christmas and towards New Year, there could be overnight frosts and morning fog, before more changeable and milder conditions, say forecasters.

Warmer air from Madeira has quickly swept into the UK this week bringing an “extraordinary” temperature rise after days of wintry conditions, according to an expert.

Dr Stephen Burt, a meteorology expert at the University of Reading, where temperatures changed from minus 5C last week to 12C on Monday, called it an “extraordinary rise of almost 20 degrees in a few days”.

He explained how the sudden rise had been caused by a change in airmass after warmer air travelled rapidly north from Madeira.

“Very mild and humid tropical maritime air from the region of Madeira transported quickly north and eastwards to our islands because of the development of a major North Atlantic depression over the past couple of days,” Dr Burt said.

“The tropical airmass displaced a cold and dry northerly airflow which persisted over the British Isles for most of last week, and several clear nights allowed widespread severe frost to develop.”

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