After a cool and wet start to June, temperatures will once again rise with much warmer weather in store by the end of this week.

With high pressure building, it will turn drier and sunnier for most parts of the United Kingdom.

England and Wales will see temperatures rise into the mid to high-20s Celsius (approximately 77F to 84F), with Scotland and Northern Ireland even reaching the low 20s (68F to roughly 77F).

However, it is still too early to say whether it will be warm enough for long enough for an official heatwave to be declared.

But before the weather settles down for the end of the week, more heavy rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast.

On Wednesday heavy showers are expected just about everywhere across the UK with a high chance of some of these being thundery in eastern Scotland and eastern England.

It will feel cool for the time of year again with temperatures around 3 to 6C below average.

Lower temperatures will persist into Thursday as a large area of rain moves in from the west across many parts of the UK.

While it will get drier, brighter and slightly warmer on Friday, it is the weekend when high pressure gradually builds in from the south and we see temperatures rising more significantly.

June brings more rainfall than all of spring to parts of UK

Temperatures will rise over the weekend, particularly across England and Wales

With some sunshine for most of England and Wales over the weekend, along with a southerly breeze, temperatures will climb to 22 to 27C, perhaps 28C (82.4F) in south-east England by Sunday.

These temperatures will be around 6 to 8C above average for early June.

Some of the warmth will extend into Northern Ireland and southern Scotland with highs on Sunday of 20 to 22C, but it will be closer to average in more northern areas with 17 to 20C.

It will also be cloudier across more northern areas of the UK over the weekend.

This warmer-than-average weather is forecast to last into next week, but to become an official heatwave temperatures need to be higher than 25-28C - depending on location - for three days in a row.

What is an official heatwave?

While it's possible some areas might reach this definition, it is still a little too early to say with certainty. Not all of the weather models agree on how the high pressure is positioned through the week ahead.

Some forecast models keep it across the UK which would mean that temperatures stay in the mid- to high 20s.

Others move the high pressure away to the east and allow the westerlies from the Atlantic to move back in. This would bring a drop in temperature along with cloud and showers.

You can keep up to date with your latest BBC Weather forecast here.

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