Swathes of the UK are set to sizzle in hotter temperatures than Barcelona and the Costa Del Sol on Thursday afternoon – as we enjoy the warmest day of 2025. The mercury just needs to hit 17C (62.6F) for us to have the hottest day of the year so far, but the Met Office predict East Anglia could even reach 18C 64.4F) by early evening.
And while we wallow in some much needed warmth and blue skies, traditional spring sun holiday hotspots in Europe are struggling. Barcelona is forecast to have highs of 14C (57.2F) and the Spanish Costa highs of 12C 53.6F) – while elsewhere in Europe, holidaymakers in Malaga and Lisbon will be disappointed with temperatures only reaching 13C (55.4F).
The warmest hotspots on Thursday will be East Anglia, Durham, Nottingham and Manchester.
This is “fairly unusual but not unheard of” for this time of year, Met Office forecaster Stephen Dixon said, as he added that Norfolk expected to reach 18C later Thursday” is obviously above average.”
In fact, the average UK daytime maximum temperature in March is 9.2C while the highest March temperature on record was March 29 1968, at 25.6C (78F).
The Met Office has predicted London and Manchester will see highs of 16C as a result of warm air drawing in from the South West.
The Met Office’s Honor Criswick said overnight into Friday clouds will spill in from the west bringing “showers and longer spells of rain – perhaps heavier bursts.”
She added: “Still some clear spells will stick around in the south east of England and northern Scotland.”
Mr Dixon predicted that we will see “good sunny spells on Saturday which should feel pleasant in the sunshine for many”.
This will be followed by sunny spells on Sunday with “some cloud and a chance of rain but generally a dry and fine day for much of the UK”.
But whilst some areas of the UK will be hotter than parts of Spain, it is not expected to cover all areas.
Mr Dixon said: “The thing to note is that it’s not universally nice weather for everyone.
“So, there’s patchy rain around on Friday, particularly for Western areas of Wales and South West and North West England, that comes with a bit more cloud as well.
“It’s not necessarily shorts and head to the beach weather for the whole of the UK.”
But the UK has not seen the back of winter just yet, as the Met Office has predicted that temperatures will cool and could even bring flurries of snow as we move into next week.
This is due to a colder pool of air moving in from the north west on Monday, going into Tuesday. The Met Office said this was not unusual.
“As we move through spring, we do get periods of warmer weather, and we also see colder plunges of weather, and that’s the current outlook in terms of temperature for the most for the UK,” Mr Dixon advised.
