Changes are afoot this morning as the hot weather that many areas have been experiencing recently is slowly pushed away to the east. The change has been brought about by a cold front that's slowly been moving north-eastwards across Britain and Ireland. Storms broke out overnight ahead of the front across south-eastern Britain, whilst the cold front itself brought some thundery rain to some western areas - notably around the Irish Sea.

This change has been something of a nightmare to forecast as the cold front has become very slow moving for the last 18 hours or so, but it does look like it will finally push on north-eastwards as we go through today. For today then and many northern and eastern areas will see another very warm and humid day with scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms breaking out. There will still be some sunshine around, and this will help temperatures rise quickly with highs into the high twenties.

Meanwhile, further to the south and west, conditions will gradually turn brighter and fresher today, particularly across Ireland and the far southwest of England. These brighter and fresher conditions with sunny spells will bring a pleasant end to the day to many parts of southern England, Wales and Ireland as they slowly extend their way northeast, with just a scattering of showers across parts of Ireland and the southwest. Temperatures will peak in the low twenties across these areas, and it won't be as hot or as sticky as recent days.

The fresher theme will continue to become evident tonight as the remaining rain and showers clear all but the far northeast. Skies will clear and temperatures will drop back into the low teens. Showers will arrive in western areas later in the night, and this will set the theme for the weekend with sunshine and scattered showers for most regions. The best of the dry weather will always be towards the southeast where it will remain pleasantly warm, but on the whole it will be much fresher.

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Another scorcher of a day is in store for many central and eastern areas today with temperatures expected to reach 30C or above fairly widely across central and south-eastern parts of England - indeed London could well break the 90F barrier. Its likely to be the last of the very hot days for many as an Atlantic weather front will be crossing the country during the next 36 hours or so.

This front is currently bringing outbreaks of heavy rain across the far southwest of England and much of Ireland, with embedded thunderstorms too. Some high rainfall totals are likely - we have a severe weather warning out for this. This band of rain will slowly edge further north and east during today, with brighter and fresher conditions following into Devon and Cornwall, as well as into southern and western Ireland.

For many though it will be another mostly fine day with lots of hot sunshine. Scattered thundery showers will break out again, these most likely across inland parts of Scotland, and perhaps across central areas of England by this evening ahead of the main front. The band of heavy and thundery rain will continue to make its way north-eastwards tonight, with the rain tending to become somewhat more fragmented by Friday morning. Eastern areas will be dry and humid, whilst fresher and clearer conditions follow into the west.

For Friday, and many central and western areas will be dry and bright with sunny spells and it will be much fresher. Eastern areas are likely to be hot and sticky again, with rising temperatures setting off heavy and thundery showers. All this will clear out of the way for the weekend to leave a much fresher feel to things, with most places seeing sunny spells and showers - most of the showers in the north and west. The cooler and showery theme then looks like continuing into next week, so a change is on the way!

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