BRITS have been soaked by a morning washout today as “heavy” downpours drenched the nation.
The said the UK will be “changeable” over the coming week as rain continues across the country following a dry spell.
Much of the country will see alternating sunny spells and showers over the next few days with temperatures within the seasonal average of 14°C to 18°C.
Wednesday morning will see outbreaks of rain and heavy showers across the central swathe of the country.
But it will be brighter in the north with showers developing by late morning.
Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said the rain was “welcome news” as rainfall figures for April had so far remained below the amount expected for this time of year.
Mr Stroud said: “Changeable probably sums it (the weather) up nicely.
“The rain is going to be fairly welcome news for the gardeners, because it's been actually very dry up until now.
“(For) April to date, rainfall figures are well below where they should be.”
The average rainfall figure for April nationally is 71mm, Mr Stroud said, but the UK has only seen 27.2mm so far, or 38 per cent of the April average.
Mr Stroud said: “Sunny spells and showers is the name of the game on Wednesday afternoon, and that leads quite nicely into a generally dry and settled spell of weather on Thursday.
“But that too will be very short-lived, with another band of cloud and rain slowly edging in from the west towards the end of the week, and more especially next weekend.”
The eastern parts of the country will see the driest and brightest skies.
While parts of , central southern , and Northern Ireland will have wet and cloudy conditions, Mr Stroud said.
He added: “Daytime temperatures are generally around average, maybe just a smidge on the warm side of average at times.
“So we're looking at 16°C and 17°C during the course of the week, maybe reaching 18°C in some of the brightest spells.”
Next week higher pressure located towards the southeast should bring fine and increasingly warm conditions across at least southern UK with highs of 23°C.
There is a greater chance of periods of cloud, rain and stronger winds affecting the north.
There will be fine weather here at times as well too however.
