Easter Sunday is bringing bright and warm sunshine to most areas of the UK before temperatures begin to drop over the next few days.

Forecasters say temperatures will reach the high teens on Sunday with the possibility of 20-21C in the south.

It comes as a slight drop from Easter Friday which saw the warmest day of the year so far with 23.4C recorded in St James’s Park in London.

Temperatures will start to drop from Easter Monday with some scattered rain and cloud moving in over the week, according to the Met Office.

Dry and bright for many #SundayMorning, however cloudier skies in the west with outbreaks of rain across Northern Ireland and west Scotland will edge slowly eastwards pic.twitter.com/V8XIJXSZJO

— Met Office (@metoffice) April 16, 2022

Marco Petagna, a spokesperson for the weather agency, told the PA news agency: “The idea is temperatures gradually just creeping down each day for the next few days across the UK.

“But today there’s plenty of fine weather still around – most areas seeing some warm sunshine, looking at temperatures of sort of high teens locally to 20 or 21.

“The central belt of Scotland could locally get to 20, locally in England and Wales could get to 20-21 as well.

“But [it will be] slightly cooler out towards the west – Northern Ireland, western Scotland and the far west of Wales and Cornwall seeing some rain coming – so for them some slightly more unsettled weather.

“But for most areas, we’re staying fine today.”

Mr Petagna said rain will push in from the west overnight, which will be “weakening” as it goes so the far east may stay dry.

Easter Monday will see some scattering of showers and it will be slightly cooler as temperatures start to drop, he said.

“The further south and southeast you go the better chances to stay fine again but [it will be] slightly cooler tomorrow at 19 in the southeast, low to mid-teens elsewhere,” Mr Petagna added.

Mr Petagna warned of high levels of pollen for those with hay fever while UV levels are moderate with the “sun as strong now as during August”.

The forecaster also said Easter Sunday and Monday may be the last of the dry bright weather for the week.

“Tuesday and Wednesday could see a few showers, particularly across the south of the UK,” he said.

“And then the second half of the week is when we get an easterly wind developing, more in the way of cloud pushing in from the east with some patchy rain but still a lot of relatively dry weather too.

“But the trend is certainly for temperatures to take a bit of a dip so we’re sort of back down to low locally mid-single figures by Thursday.”