With many outdoor events up and coming, will you need a sunhat or an umbrella?

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With many outdoor events up and coming, will you need a sunhat or an umbrella

Today (Monday 20 June) is the summer solstice and marks the start of summer in the astronomical calendar. At this time of year, with outdoor events up and down the country, everyone wants to know whether they'll need wellies or sunscreen, or both.

Drier weather is expected through to Wednesday, although there will still be some showers across the north of the UK, where it will also be breezy.

The changeable theme continues for the second half of the week when it looks likely that most places will see warm sunny spells combined with a risk of showers.

After recent cool weather temperatures are expected to recover along the eastern coasts, as a plume of warm, humid weather spreads northwards from Europe across the south of the UK.

This could lead to some warm weather on Wednesday and Thursday across the south and east with temperatures perhaps reaching the mid 20s Celsius with some muggy nights. Northern and western parts, while fresher will see temperatures in the mid to high teens Celsius.

The combination of warmth and humidity could lead to some heavy showers or thunderstorms across some central, southern and eastern parts of the UK on Thursday and perhaps Friday. Western parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland could also see some heavy, possibly thundery showers.

For the weekend, early signs suggest that for many, the weather will bring a combination of sunny spells and slow-moving, heavy showers which could be thundery. Although temperatures will be lower than previous days, in the spells of strong June sunshine it will still feel warm and humid.

This means that anyone with outdoor weekend plans should be prepared for a mix of weather.