The UK is set to bask in warm sun this weekend in part thanks to a storm that’s battered Europe with half a year’s rain in just 36 hours.
Storm Minerva has shocked parts of continental Europe, turning the streets of some of the continent’s cities into rivers as well as causing deaths.
In Bologna, Italy, half a year’s worth of rain fell in just a day and a half, leading to severe flooding and landslides.
There are still some people unaccounted for with more extreme rain on the way.
This is because the jet stream has taken an unusually far south pattern, Chris Fawkes, a broadcast meteorologist for BBC Weather, warned, creating an area of low pressure.
Over the next few days a second low pressure system, called Storm Nino, could bring even more rain across Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
Italy in particular has been rocked by extreme weather this month, having Storm Minerva behind it, Storm Nino now and a period of drought earlier in the year.
Mr Fawkes warned these kinds of extreme weather events were becoming increasingly frequent with climate change.
But, Storm Nino is actually due to help create some far more pleasant and sunny conditions in the UK this weekend.
The BBC meteorologist said: “The nasty storm Nino is actually causing easterly winds to develop across England, and that’ll actually boost our temperatures.
“So it’ll be having a distant impact on our shoes but nothing too drastic.”
He added: “Given that slightly warmer air coming in across England and Wales, temperatures will be high teens low twenties. It’s going to feel quite pleasant if you’re outside.”
This distant storm will be helping temperatures reach as high as 20C this weekend.
It comes after a record-breakingly dull start to the year.
Early figures show that spring has seen far less hours of sunshine than usual.
March in particular had far more clouds and gloom, with Devon, Somerset, Hampshire and Wilthsire suffering their dullest March in 110 years.
In addition, England and Wales had their respective wettest Marches since 1981, and Northern Ireland its third wettest March on record.
The Met Office's long-range forecast, which covers the period from Tuesday May 23 - Thursday Jun 1, states that high pressure "will dominate over most of the UK through the first half of this period, with settled conditions for most of the country" and that the predicted warm weather fronts will "bring a good deal of fine and dry weather for the majority of areas"
Forecasters are predicting that temperatures will only continue to improve towards the end of this month and into June.
