‘Mini-heatwave’ as temperatures reach 20C in Porthmadog

Temperatures were expected to reach 20C in Porthmadog today as Wales continued to see above-average temperatures for late April.

Most can look forward to a dry and sunny weekend, but it it will be Wales that experiences the warmest weather today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday), the Met Office said.

The mercury was close to reaching the expected highs of 20C in Porthmadog, Gwynedd this afternoon – down slightly from a high of 20.8C recorded on Friday in the same town.

However, the temperatures did reach 19C.

‘Warmest’

The mini-heatwave will continue into tomorrow (Sunday), although it will be the Western Highlands of Scotland that could see the warmest temperatures as the mercury hits 18C.

The mercury is forecast to hit highs of 16C on Monday, dropping to 15C on Tuesday and 13C on Wednesday.

This weekend’s forecast should maintain the trend of what has been one of the driest Aprils on record with the UK seeing less than a fifth of the average rainfall for the month so far.

There has been an average of 12.8mm of rain across the UK up to April 22, much lower than the April average of 72.53mm, according to Met Office figures.

A typical April in Wales would have had 70% of its rainfall by now, but it instead has just had 18%.

The driest April on record across the UK was in 1938 when 14.1mm of rain was recorded, followed by April 1974 when 14.6mm of rain fell.