August may have been one of the coldest for years but warm weather could return with forecasters expecting an Indian summer lasting into November.
Although the weekend will see the temperature fall back to the seasonal average after highs of 25C today, the Met Office’s 16 to 30-day forecast indicates balmy weather to come.
Next week will see higher than normal temperatures with a high chance of fine, dry weather in the south and the east after the following weekend. Towards the end of the month, it will be “pleasantly warm” in many areas, although the north and west will see more unsettled weather.
The mercury during that time will also be higher than average when the sun shines, but lower if fronts of rain and wind move in. Defined by the Met Office as “a warm, calm spell of weather occurring in autumn, especially in October and November”, an Indian summer is also looking likely in the three-month forecast.
For the period of September, October, and November, there is a 35 per cent chance the temperatures will fall into the above-average category, and only a 10 to 15 per cent chance the mercury will fall below average.
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Calum MacColl, a meteorologist, said: “With a 35 per cent chance of high temperatures, that could mean warm weather in the next three months although there is the caveat that it is hard to predict this far in advance.”
This week’s warm weather is the result of Hurricane Cristobal heading towards Iceland and leaving a high pressure belt in its wake over the UK. The highest recorded temperature in October was 29.9C (85.82F) on October 1, 2011, in Gravesend, Kent.