UK weather forecast: Temperatures to hit 26C before Hurricane Humberto brings wind and rain

‘It’s going to feel very pleasant in the sunshine,’ say forecasters

The UK is set to bathe in sunshine this weekend with temperatures of up to 26C, before thunderstorms and high wind associated with Hurricane Humberto move in soon afterwards.

Sun is forecast across the UK on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, interspersed with a few clouds and light wind in some areas.

“For the next couple of days, it’s continued bright, dry sunny conditions for the whole of the UK,” said Met Office forecaster Oli Claydon.

“There is going to be a bit of a breeze around, so that will probably take the edge off slightly, but it’s certainly going to feel very pleasant in the sunshine through Saturday.”

However, by Saturday afternoon, parts of southwest England could experience thunderstorms as rain begins to move in.

“The areas with the best chance of staying dry and in the sunshine are along the east coast and in the far north of Scotland,” Mr Claydon said.

Despite the predicted downpour, temperatures on Saturday could reach 26C as the high-pressure system that has brought this week’s settled weather moves eastwards.

“As it moves eastwards it’s allowing some warm air to come up from the south, so that’s what’s bringing that little pulse of warm air for Saturday,” Mr Claydon explained.

Thunderstorms could continue into Sunday, as rain and wind take hold in some parts of the country.

“There will be areas of brightness so it’s not a full day of gloom and doom and rain,” Mr Claydon said. “Places like Northern Ireland will see a persistent day of rainfall, other parts of the UK will see rain but there will be some sunshine as well. That will continue to move eastwards.”

Monday – the first day of autumn – could be “a bit of an in-between day” of cloud and rain with some dry patches, with Hurricane Humberto expected to start bringing wet and windy weather later in the day.

The Category 1 cyclone is currently northwest of Bermuda and the US National Hurricane Centre predicts it will be downgraded to a post-tropical storm by Friday afternoon.

It will then be swept into the transatlantic jet stream and will move towards the UK, weakening as it goes.

“Obviously, it’s crossing much cooler water, so losing a lot of its energy, and then by the time it gets to us, looking like it will be a pretty standard area of low pressure bringing a period of wind and rain,” Mr Claydon said.

“But because of the uncertainty associated with tropical depressions … the details around that are still to be extracted.”