Rain set to ease for the weekend as sunshine returns

The weather this weekend looks much more settled than it has been recently, with the return of some sunshine for most areas.

Temperatures may be a little above average, at 11–16°C, but with strengthening spring sunshine and light winds, it will feel very pleasant for many.

This more settled spell follows some typically changeable April weather over the past few days, with a mix of sunshine, showers and even thunderstorms.

These conditions gave BBC Weather Watchers plenty of interesting scenes to photograph, including lightning, mammatus - an unusual type of thunderstorm cloud, and double rainbows.

These calmer conditions look likely to last into next week.

Whilst there will be some cloud at times, for most there will be some brighter or sunnier interludes with temperatures in the low to mid-teens.

Despite April showers having been dominant for most over the last few days, rainfall across spring so far has varied hugely across the UK.

In April some places in the south-east of England have had barely any rain compared to some areas in western Scotland which have exceeded their average April rainfall already despite only being mid-way through the month.

Our analysis of rainfall data shows that parts of East Anglia and the south-east of England have been very dry. Across the county of Essex, only around a fifth of the rain we would usually expect by this point in spring has fallen.

Rainfall was broadly below average across eastern and south-east England in March, and April has continued this dry trend.

According to the latest Met Office data, between 1–17 April, south-east and central-southern England have recorded just 8.9mm of rain, around 17% of the monthly average of 53mm.

East Anglia has been even drier, with only 2.9mm falling so far, just 7% of its April average of 40mm.

In contrast, Scotland has seen much wetter conditions. As a whole, it has recorded 98.7mm of rainfall so far this month, slightly above average at around 106% of its typical April total of 93mm.

While March rainfall was broadly average across Scotland, a succession of weather systems in April has brought significantly wetter conditions.

While a lot can change in the second half of spring, the mostly dry conditions in the south are likely to continue into next week.

Droughts and hosepipe bans featured widely in 2025 after the driest spring in 50 years and the hottest summer on record.

But in late March 2026 - after one of the wettest winters since 1836 - the Environment Agency confirmed that eastern England the last region still in 'recovery' to 'normal' conditions.