Spring in the air as temperatures rise across the UK

It finally feels like spring with temperatures reaching their highest so far this year.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Mar 2017, 16:21 GMT

Updated 24th Mar 2017, 11:24 GMT

The sun goes down at the beach huts in St Annes (Pic: Donna Clifford)

Wednesday has been the hottest day of 2017 with a high of 18.6C in Gravesend, Kent.

Wales also enjoyed a warm day, with the mercury reaching 17.4C, also the highest so far this year.

The previous high for the year was on February 20 in London, with 18.3C.

Met Office forecaster Nicola Maxey said March is typically a changeable month and that warmer weather or snow are both not unusual for this time of year.

"The hottest March temperature recorded was 25.6C in 1968 in Cambridgeshire," she added.

"The lowest was minus 22.8C on March 14 in Aberdeenshire in 1958.

"In March we quite often get these extremes - it's more likely to snow in March than in December."