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Today starts fine in much of the UK but the far north west is overcast with patchy bursts of rain. The rest of the day brings very warm sunny periods to central and eastern regions. Near western coasts there could be more cloud and in the far north west the risk of rain continues.

Temperatures range from 13C (55F) in the north west to close to 29C (84F) in the south east. That means the existing May Day record of 23.6C (74.5F) will be fried! See the rain radar for the latest view.

GFS, forecast temperatures, 16:00 BST Mon 7th May

Tonight most areas remain dry but outbreaks of persistent rain push into Northern Ireland and western Scotland late on. It will be warm and muggy.

Change on the way

Tomorrow central and eastern counties have warm sunny periods but downpours and thunderstorms are likely to break out. The west has outbreaks of rain and it will be cooler than today.

Wednesday starts fine but cloud and rain spread eastwards across western and central regions. The east probably remains dry and in the south east there should be further spells of warm sunshine.

Through the rest of the week a changeable set-up gradually spreads southwards as a west or southwesterly flow returns from the Atlantic. A reasonable amount of dry weather is expected in the south but by the weekend it could be quite cool and showery in all regions.

GFS forecast pressure and precipitation, 16:00 BST Sat 12th May

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16 day GEFS ensembles at a glance

After a very warm start upper air temperatures drop and by the 11th of May they are below the 30 year average. Beyond that it warms up again but there is a chance of wet spells. View latest GEFS.