A ten-day Spring mini-heatwave is on its way as sunshine is expected to dominate the rest of the week – despite Brits being confined inside their homes due to coronavirus.
Forecasters have predicted temperatures will climb to a barmy 19C (66F) towards the middle of the week as a 500-mile plume of warm air is swept up from Portugal.
And Spring is officially here for four sets of twin lambs born at Chapel Field Farm in Litton village in the Peak District.
The little bundles of fluff were captured nuzzling into their mother by photographer Rachel Rennie who watched them take their first tentative steps into the world.
She wrote on Facebook: ‘I thought you’d like to see our latest arrivals, we have four sets of twins so far.
‘Our first lambs of the year. Born on the first day of Spring. Lovely to have something to be excited about at the moment.’
Spring is officially here for four sets of twin lambs born at Chapel Field Farm in Litton village in the Peak District as temperatures are set to soar as high as 19 C (66 F) by the middle of the week
A three-day forecast shows the difference between the weather systems hitting the north and south of the country this week
Animal lovers were quick to chime into the comments as Christine Robison said: ‘I just love seeing lambs. Still a thrill for an old townie like me.’
Louise Mike Smart added: ‘Made my day, thank you Rachel.’
The mini-heatwaves temperatures are expected to reach hotter than Malta and Corfu, Greece, both due to be 14C by midweek.
A MET Office forecaster told MailOnline the UK should look forward to ‘dry and sunny’ conditions but colder nights.
‘We’re in for a dry and sunny spell,’ she said. ‘There’s some rain in the north-west of Scotland that we have a yellow warning for, and low pressure over Iceland that is influencing the area.
Flowers blooming in Holland Park west London as a mother takes her toddler for a walk in the beautiful weather as temperatures soar during a Springtime mini-heatwave
Beautiful pink blossom appeared on this tree in St James Park in Westminster as Spring weather and sunshine hit the capital
A runner took to the fields in Dunsden, Oxfordshire, early on Tuesday morning in an effort to avoid meeting any others
Joggers and walkers took to St James Park in Westminster earlier today but were careful to try to spread out amidst the spread of coronavirus
‘But high pressure will bring a settled dry period to most of the UK that should last until the start of April with sunny spells but also colder nights because you’ve got clearer skies. The wind will also be a bit chilly.’
She added that the warm temperatures are due to wind sweeping up from the Mediterranean area.
Many people’s favourite blossom-filled season comes as the UK public is urged to stay indoors and only head out for ‘essential’ items and travel due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesman, told MailOnline the weather ‘is being kind to us at the moment’ as temperatures hit the mid-teens in the south of the UK, but it’s a different story for the north of the country and the weather could be set to turn foul as sleet and hail is forecast next week.
The lambs in Derbyshire frolicked in the fields just hours after their birth welcomed the beginning of the new season
Two men are seen making the most of the warmer weather as they’ve set up cones to mark their exercise area in Holland Park
The mother of the lambs licked one clean as the other enjoyed a lie down in the sun just hours after the twins were born
He added: ‘Weather up until the weekend is bright, but it’s a story of two halves. We recognise that in the south and east we have good conditions set to last into the weekend, but it is not the same picture for the north and north west.
‘They’re under the influence of a different regime. There’s a strong rain and weather warning out for the western islands. For the majority of the UK fine conditions are set to last.’
Mr Madge described Tuesday as a ‘pretty good day’ as parts of the UK warmed up as far as 19 C (66.2 F) in Hereford, London saw highs of 16 C (60.8 F) and other parts of the south of the country enjoyed a sunshine-filled 17 C (62.6 F).
But the rest of the week will see temperatures gradually fall until easterly coasts are pounded by sleet, hail and even potentially snow from a weather system coming in from the North Sea from Sunday.
Runners and cyclists get up early to exercise despite the chill in the air in an effort to avoid people in Dunsden, Oxfordshire
These little bundles of fluff were captured nuzzling into their mother by photographer Rachel Rennie who watched them take their first tentative steps into the world
Sunrise at St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast earlier this morning ahead of a ten-day mini-heatwave
Sunrise at St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast early this morning on one of the first days of spring
He added: ‘Temperatures are coming down particularly on Sunday. They’re struggling to get into double figures.
‘Sunday is looking uncertain. For London we’re looking at 10 C (50 F) as a daytime maximum but could be a couple of degrees either side.
‘There will be a cooler influence that has the potential to bring wintry showers off the north sea onto eastern facing coasts. Places in that colder air will be anywhere from London and southeast to northern Scotland. The weather there is most likely to be sleet and some places could see hail, even possibly a little bit of transient snow.’
The Weather Outlook’s forecaster Brian Gaze said temperatures will climb above 15C and 16C on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that Britons should expect lots of pleasant sunshine.
‘Nights are still going to be chilly though,’ he warned, ‘but the afternoon will be pleasantly warm’.
He said the weather would turn, however, by the second half of the week as a high pressure system above the west of the UK pulls in frozen air from the Arctic.
‘As we reach the weekend, it looks like that air will push outwards across the entire country,’ he said.
‘Nighttime temperatures will drop to -4C (24.8F) in the southern half of the UK, and it also looks like if colder or sweeps down there will be a lot of sunshine but also showers.
‘These will form into sleet or snow over Scotland. Later on this weekend we could even see some showers in southern England.’
Weathertrending and former MET office presenter John Hammond said Britain’s had plenty of ‘fine and sunny’ weather to look forward to.
‘It’ll be spring by day and winter by night,’ he said as he gave the forecast for this week.
‘On Monday the vast majority of us, after a very cold start, will see plenty more spring sunshine and with the wind having less of an edge to it than it had at the weekend, it will feel quite comfortable.
‘Temperatures in many places will be getting up into double figures.’
The Met Office was predicting mostly dry conditions for the next 10 days as a 500 mile-wide warm air blows from Portugal to the UK with highs climbing to 4C (39.2F) above average by Wednesday.
The barmy weather comes days after people in the UK were told to stay inside their homes unless they needed to get to work, shop for necessities, or care for someone in need. People could also leave for one workout a day.
It comes after thousands headed to Britain’s parks, beaches and holiday spots over the weekend to enjoy the mother’s day sunshine, despite calls from the government to stay at least two metres away from each other.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to the inappropriate gatherings in his daily coronavirus news conference. He warned: ‘I don’t think you need to use your imagination very much to see where we might have to go, and we will think about this very very actively in the next 24 hours.’
Although there was no ban on going outdoors for fresh air, Mr Johnson told Brits to stay at home as much as possible.
‘It is a really simple rule and incredibly important, because to protect life and the NHS we need to stop the spread of this virus.’