Isn’t it meant to be Spring? Heavy showers to soak Britain this weekend after parts of the country woke up to frost after -6.3C overnight chill – with fears that thunderstorms could strike next week

Heavy showers are set to soak Britain this weekend after parts of the country woke up to frost this morning due to a -6C overnight chill. 

It comes as the Met Office also warned that thunderstorms could strike the UK next week. 

Lows of -6.3C were recorded in the village of Shap, Cumbria last night after an Arctic blast plunged the country into a chill. 

Temperatures in Tulloch Bridge in the Scottish Highlands sunk to -5.7C and the village of Cardington, Bedfordshire, recorded a low of -2.4C.

Winds coming in from the Arctic and North Sea began to hit the UK last weekend and have continued to move through over the course of this week. 

This has meant temperatures have been around three to six degrees below the average for late April. 

Strong winds are now expected to push a wall of stormclouds northwards up the country – leading to heavy rain showers this weekend. 

Today will continue to feel chilly with rain developing over southwest England during the day, according to the Met Office forecast. 

Tonight a band of thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain will move slowly northwards from the south. 

Although, there will be sunnier spells on Saturday, a more unsettled start to Sunday is expected with rain towards the West. 

Next week temperatures are finally expected to trend upwards, but the Met Office has warned this brings the risk of thundery showerrs in the East and Southeast. 

Therefore those looking forward to warmer weather, may have to wait until at least the start of May for more spring-like temperatures.

By then, temperatures could start returning to the seasonal average of 13C to 17C and they may even creep even higher than that. 

However, while, the start of April may have felt colder than normal, the official statistics from forecasters tell a different story.

According to Central England Temperature, the maximum temperature has in fact been 2.5C higher than normal.

The warmest days of the year so far were April 12 in England and Wales where temperatures reached 21.8C in Writtle, Essex and 20.4 C in Cardiff.