Britain will be hit with the tail end of Storm Olivia ahead of what is expected to be the warmest day of the year - but London will avoid the worst of the downpours.
The UK is set to be hit with unsettled weather and showers on Friday as part of an area of low pressure dubbed Storm Olivia by the Portuguese weather service Ipma.
Another area of low pressure is also expected to hit on Saturday, but London and the South East are expected to avoid the worst of it.
Instead, temperatures could hit as high as 21C, making it the warmest day of 2024 so far.
On March 20, the temperature reached 18.8C at Charlwood in Surrey, which remains the highest so far this year for England.
The Met Office predicts highs of 20C in London on Saturday.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “There will be some wet weather around, could be quite heavy at times, but there are also some signs of something a little bit drier coming up later on.
“For the time being though, low pressure in control as we go through the next few days, various areas of low pressure pushing their way across, bringing spells of wet weather and some blustery conditions too.
“As we head towards Friday though, we have an area of low pressure pushing towards us and this feature has actually been named Storm Olivia by the Portuguese met service. It is going to bring some blustery, showery weather across parts of the UK.
“Nothing too severe, but worth noting that it has brought some very unsettled weather to the Azores during the middle part of the week.”
However, Mr Burkill said there was not expected to see a “huge amount” of rain in the capital and the South East on Saturday - saying it was “likely to be the warmest day of the year so far.”
According to forecasters, the capital will see plenty of dry and sunny weather this weekend, in contrast to other parts of the country, but it will be “notably windy”.
Looking further afield into next week, the current unsettled spell of weather is likely to continue through to mid-April “with little sign of any dramatic change,” said the Met Office.
“All areas can expect to see showers or longer spells of rain at times, with western hills likely to see the largest rainfall totals. Likewise, further windy spells are expected at times,” it added.
