Weather

April heatwave expected as African plume blasts Britain

Meteorologists are warning that an April heatwave could be set to hit Britain as an African plume brings hot air to Europe.

February marked the wettest month on record in the UK with wet conditions enduring into March.

But according to experts, the damp weather could be replaced by a spell of warm, sunny conditions in April thanks to hot air being blown in from Africa.

Jim Dale, from the British Weather Services, told The Express: “The period between now and the first few days of April are very mid. You get an odd morning where it’s lovely before the cloud arrives.

“It’s in between systems, the sun is now angled and high enough to create a decent amount of heat and it’s pleasant. We will see more as we move towards the end of the month and into April.”

He said temperatures are expected to increase towards the end of April, adding: “It won’t come in March but it will come in April.

“I expect a heatwave to happen. It might be later rather than sooner. I don’t think it will arrive on April 1st but it will come. The ground is getting more solid, it’s not slushy and wet.

“Generally it’s getting drier. These are little signs that a heatwave is on the way. The angle of the sun, the fact it’s getting so high in the sky. We haven’t seen high pressure for a couple of months, extremely unusual.

“This all stacks up to the probability of seeing dry, very warm, heatwave. I expect it to happen, I can’t promise it will but I would expect it to happen.

“As we go through the first week of April, it becomes more likely. I would expect temperatures to pick up. We might get a good taste of summer in the first or second week of April.”

In 1948, there was a heatwave in April which brought record highs of 29.4C. Fingers crossed for more of the same!

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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