UK weather latest: Britain faces hail and thunder before temperatures set to rise to 25C next week

Britain could see thunderstorms and hail early next week before temperatures rise to as much as 25C across parts of the southeast.

Forecasters said the weekend would see “changeable” weather, with winds and heavy rain pushing eastwards across much of England and Wales. The southeast is set to see the warmest weather, with highs of 21C.

Sunday is set to be the drier weekend day, with rains making way for brighter conditions in the afternoon. The Great North Run should be mostly dry, the Met Office said, with runners in Newcastle facing highs of 20C.

Warning that Monday was looking “pretty unsettled”, Met Office forecaster Alex Burkill told The Independent: “Low pressure could bring some wet and windy weather for a time. The rain could be heavy, there could even be some hail and thunder mixed in as well.

“We’ll see that rain clear away very early on Tuesday, and so then it will probably be a drier interlude before some further rain is likely to push in from the west later in the day.

“Temperatures are going to rise a little bit, so on Monday we could see highs of 23-24C, whereas Tuesday could see highs of 24-25C, maybe even a little bit hotter.”

Noting Tuesday would feel “very warm”, Mr Burkill said temperatures on were likely to be a good five degrees above average for that time of year.

The rest of next week is likely to see more unsettled weather, with Wednesday and Thursday seeing periods of rain. The northwest is set to see average temperatures with wet and windy weather, whereas the southeast is likely to be drier, with slightly warmer weather than normal all the way to the weekend.

Mr Burkill said through the rest of September, the southeast was likely to see slightly warmer and drier conditions than normal, whereas the northwest was set to see cooler, “standard autumnal weather”.