UK weather forecast: Warm sunny weather to give way to unsettled weekend

Some heavy rain expected to fall over south of UK on Friday morning

Most of the UK is expected to bask in warm sunshine on Thursday, with temperatures hitting a high of 21C in London.

However, isolated showers may fall over parts of southern England, Wales and the Midlands later in the day. Conditions will be cloudier and cooler in parts of Scotland and northeast England.

The fine weather will dissipate overnight as clouds gather, with some heavy rain expected to fall over the south of the UK on Friday morning.

The band of rain is expected to move into parts of the Midlands and Wales later in the day. However, further north, conditions will be mostly fine and dry but quite breezy and rather cold.

Unsettled weather will remain in place throughout the weekend, splitting conditions across the country two ways.

Spells of rain will affect the south and west of the country on Saturday, but most of the north and east will be dry, with long spells of bright sunshine.

Sunday will be a sunnier affair for most, especially the north, but a few showers are expected to sprinkle across the south.

As we move into yet another week of lockdown, as part of an effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic, things are likely to get dry and sunny again more widely on Monday

No matter what the weather is where you are this week, the British public is urged to stay at home and only go out for exercise, to work if you cannot work at home, or for essentials.

The coronavirus outbreak has infected 98,476 people in the UK. The latest daily number of deaths because of Covid-19 was 761 on Wednesday, pushing the toll up to 12,868.