Britain is set to be hotter than Monaco tomorrow as temperatures soar to 73F before the Autumnal weather washes in.
London is expected to reach highs of 73F (23C) on Sunday, putting the capital on a par with Monaco and Rome’s balmy temperatures.
Today, optimistic Britons flocked to the seaside in the South East to embrace the weather after forecasters predicted an ‘Indian Summer’ earlier this week.
Britons were spotted sunning themselves in Portsmouth today as a late Indian Summer hit the UK the day after the Autumn Equinox
Weymouth visitors were spotted enjoying the warm day today despite a few clouds appearing in the sky. Several people decided to go paddling and swimming in the sea while others walked along the beach
Two friends decided to lounge in some stripey deck chairs and natter as the sun shone down on a stoney beach in Brighton earlier this afternoon
One man was spotted building sandcastles on his own while donning some sun glasses, a stripey shirt and some cargo shorts
A group of children decided to ride some donkeys in a beach in Weymouth. Two adults were spotted leading them along the sandy route
Met Office forecaster Mark Wilson said: ‘On Saturday afternoon the best of the sunshine is across southern parts of the country, particularly south western parts and also the far north of Scotland.
‘Central and eastern parts will be dry and fairly bright and we could see highs of 73F (23C) in London.
‘In between in that central slice there will be a fair amount of cloud around and the odd bit of rain. Most places will be quite dry but will turn quite windy in the west.’
But despite the warm weather for the southern parts of the UK, wet weather is predicted to hit the western regions of the UK tomorrow evening.
‘A band of rain is set to reach Northern Ireland by the evening, which will continue to track its way eastwards through the night so by dawn tomorrow it will be pretty wet across western parts of Scotland, north-west England, West Wales and South West England,’ he added.
A baby, his relative and a young girl chased the waves during their weekend in Dorset while a man was seen snapping photographs in Weymouth
A group of people gathered and observe the waves in Portsmouth while several others sat on the pebbles and embraced the rays
Another family was spotted building sandcastles as people walked across the beach in Weymouth. Some sun-lovers sat on deckchairs near the beach
Three lifeguards in Weymouth were larking around on the beach in between keeping watch of swimmers in the sea
Things will start to cool down on Monday and Tuesday with highs of 70F (21C) and lows of 45F (7C).
Mr Wilson said: ‘It’s very tricky to say at this time of year as we can still get some fairly warm spells as we are this weekend.
‘Obviously, the later in the season you go the less likely that will happen. But it’s not completely out of the question.’
The Autumnal Equinox on Thursday officially marked the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the coming months, the amount of daylight becomes shorter than hours of darkness.
The warmest temperature of the month so far was 74.8F (23.8C), recorded at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, on September 4.
Last year, 34.3C (93.9F) was recorded at Gravesend, Kent, on September 13.