Weather: How warm is it going to get and will Easter be sunny?

Credit: PA

Temperatures will reach up to 23 degrees today in parts of the Midlands, hotter than yesterday, which was the warmest day of the year so far.

23 degrees is, in fact, higher than the average March temperature in both Las Vegas and parts of Egypt, and around the same as Tenerife.

Met Office forecaster Alex Burkhill said it was a “possibility” that Wednesday’s temperatures could surpass the March record of 25.6C (78F), set in 1968 at Mepal in Cambridgeshire.

The Met Office says that normally "you’re more likely to see snow in March in some parts of the UK than December – the first month of winter."

"In a typical March, we expect to see around 15 days of ground frost, and on an average of just over seven days we expect to temperatures to fall to 0 °C or below, creating an air frost."

"The average maximum temperature for March approaches 10 °C in England."

East Midlands

Here, it will be 23 degrees in most of the East Midlands, from Peterborough to Derby and down to Northampton.

West Midlands

In the West Midlands, there'll be temperatures of 23 degrees in Hereford and 22 degrees in Coventry, Birmingham and Stafford. But it's getting much colder towards the end of the week.

Highest March temperatures in recent years:

  • 2020 - 19.4 °C recorded at Rhyl (Clwyd) on the 24th

  • 2019 - 19.8 °C recorded at Kew Gardens (Greater London) on the 26th

  • 2018 - 16.6 °C was recorded at Colwyn Bay (Clwyd) on the 10th

March average temperature in the East Midlands:

At Sutton Bonington in Nottinghamshire, between 1981 and 2010, the average March maximum temperature was 10.3 degrees

March average temperature in the West Midlands:

At the weather monitoring station in Coleshill, Warwickshire, between 1981 and 2010, the average March maximum temperature was 10.1 degrees.

Unfortunately, the weather here isn't due to last beyond the next few days.

East Midlands

West Midlands

Average March temperatures across the world:

10. Las Vegas - 21.6°C

9. Hurghada, Egypt - 21.9°C

8. Tenerife - 22.3°C

7. Fuerteventura - 22.5°C

6. Cape Verde - 25.7°C

5. Cuba - 27.5°C

4. Dominican Republic - 29.3°C

3. Barbados - 29.7°C

2. Phuket - 33.3°C

1. Cancun - 34.2°C

Source: The Met Office

We're not allowed to travel to any of those places due to lockdown restrictions, but rules relaxed yesterday to allow six people or two households to meet outside, perfectly timed with two days of dry, sunny weather.

Boris Johnson has stressed that “we must remain cautious, with cases rising across Europe and new variants threatening our vaccine rollout”, as the warm weather accompanied the relaxation.

Check out Des Coleman's new climate series; Des Coleman cracks down on climate.

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