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Wednesday begins with heavy rain in parts of southern England and south Wales. This morning the wet weather will push westwards and be focused on areas to the south of London. Drier and brighter conditions follow on from the east by early afternoon. Elsewhere it stay mostly dry with sunny spells in the north west but overcast skies in the north east.

ICON 00z, forecast precipitation, 13:00 BST Wed 11th April

Maximum temperatures range from 6C (43F) in the north east to 16C (61F) in brighter parts of the south. See the rainfall and precipitation type radar for the latest view.

Tonight another area of rain spreads westwards across central and northern England. Other areas will be mostly dry.

Tomorrow overcast conditions and patchy outbreaks of rain affect large parts of the country. In the south it could remain mostly dry and some sunny spells are likely. The north west should be dry and bright.

On Friday outbreaks of rain are expected to spread into the north. In southern and central regions there is an increasing chance of warm spells of sunshine.

Mixed but warmer weekend

The changeable theme continues this weekend. On Saturday warm sunny are possible but heavy showers are likely to break out in the south. The north east probably remains overcast and damp.

Sunday is expected to be dry and warm in the east. In Northern Ireland and western Britain outbreaks of rain develop in the morning and push into central regions through the course of the day.

GFS 00z, forecast surface pressure and precipitation, 16:00 BST Sat 14th April

High pressure builds next week

Computer models are showing a spell of dry and warm weather next week. The GFS 00z chart below is for Wednesday 18th April. The UK is sandwiched between high pressure to the east and low pressure to the west with a plume of very warm air moving northwards.

Daytime temperatures of 21C (70F) would be expected in much of the country. Locally values could be a couple of degrees higher and there is a possibility of 25C (77F) being reached if the warm air remains in situ for several days.

GFS 00z, forecast 850hPa temperatures and surface pressure, 16:00 BST Wed 18th April

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16 day GEFS ensembles at a glance

Upper air temperatures continue to be above the 30 year average but towards the end of the period they drop quite quickly. Between the 16th and 22nd April a very warm and dry set-up is favoured. View latest GEFS.