UK weather: Parts of the UK colder on first day of summer than they were on Christmas Day

Parts of Britain have been colder than Christmas Day today as our meteorological summertime begins with wind and rain.

Temperatures in St James Park, London, reached lows of 12.8C, whereas on Christmas Day 2015 the capital basked in relatively balmy temperatures of between 13.9C and 15.2C.

Grahame Madge, a senior press officer for the Met Office explained that the UK had experienced a December which was warmer than usual.

But it wasn’t all bad as temperatures began to creep up again as evening approached.

Mr Madge explained that typically you will see maximum temperatures around mid afternoon as the sun is at its highest point in the sky, but “because the cloud is burning off in parts and the sun is getting through, temperatures have continued to climb”.

As we head towards the weekend though, the picture is a little more mixed as the east of the country will see rain and cloud but the west could manage to hang on to more bright weather.

Mr Madge said: “We will see cloud returning to the east and becoming thick enough for rain during the early hours.

“During Friday this cloud and showery rain will spread slowly westwards with the south and west holding on to the decent weather for the longest.

“Under the cloud on Friday temperatures in the east will hover around 14-16C, but western locations like Cardiff and Exeter may well see highs of 20C”.

But as we go into the weekend that scenario will reverse with the rain band pushing south west and winds easing - even though the east may hang on to some of the “breezy conditions”.

The bad weather did not impress people on Twitter who complained about having to put the heating on:

Flood warnings were issued along the Yorkshire coast from Skipsea to Scarborough where 20mph winds lashed the coast.