Temperatures set for sharp fall

Temperatures are set to plunge by as much as 10 degrees in less than a week, meteorologists said.

Warm weather is expected to arrive on Monday with temperatures climbing to a maximum of 20C (68F) in London, but it will only last a day as northern winds bring a chill to the United Kingdom which has so far seen mild autumn temperatures.

The sunshine and warmth will give way to more unsettled weather with temperatures dropping by a few degrees every day to 8/9C (46.4F) on Friday.

Alexi Boothman, a forecaster with Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "Clearly, it is a gradual decrease in temperatures from the beginning of the week and it is quite a marked fall in the space of a week with the air mass being turned around."