The wettest March in a decade has given way to a warm early April and forecasters are predicting double-digit temperatures across the UK on Friday.



The Met Office said Friday would be clear and sunny in most parts of the country, reaching possible highs of 17C in south-east England. It follows a wetter than average month in places such as Devon, the Severn Vale and Tyneside.

Met Office data showed average UK rainfall last month was 104.4mm, the highest for March since 2008 when it reached 122.5mm.

The latest figure includes the heavy “beast from the east” snowstorms which came in two waves and caused widespread disruption.

Forecaster Graeme Madge said: “After a cold start on Friday, any residual cold in the east and south-east will quite rapidly move away. Most places across the UK will be clear. It will be bright and sunny with not much in the way of wind.”

Most parts of England reached double-digit temperatures on Thursday and that mild weather is expected to extend into Scotland on Friday.

But Madge said an area of low pressure threatened to bring some rain to western parts of the UK, including Northern Ireland and Wales on Friday. He said: “There’s a front associated with that low pressure that’s going to be trying to make progress across the UK in western areas.”

Madge said average temperatures for early April in south-east England were around 12C to 13C, but predicted the warmer weather might not last long, with the weekend looking “certainly unsettled”.

The warmest day of the year so far was 10 March, when 16.6C was recorded in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, but the month had plenty of rain.



“Devon had its fourth wettest March since 1910, although that was not necessarily replicated everywhere,” Madge said. “Pretty much everywhere apart from places like the north-west and west of Scotland saw pretty much above average rainfall.

“Some areas, particularly Devon, the Severn Vales and parts of the north-east, saw levels approaching double the amount expected for March – not record-breaking necessarily but a particularly wet month.”