Spring is in the air for warm London

The sun is too weak at this time of year to send temperatures this high but they were sent spiralling by warm air carried up from the Canary Islands on an anticyclone.

More mild weather is expected for the rest of the week with some predicting it could be even warmer on Wednesday. It comes as the northern half of Britain experiences wintery conditions with the threat of flooding.

With polar air sweeping in from Greenland, rain may turn to snow in the Pennines and southern Scotland with up to eight inches of snow predicted for today.

The stark differences between the weather experienced in the South and North are expected to continue this week. The anticyclone trying to establish itself from the south will battle with wet and windy Atlantic depressions. Experts say the wild differences are being caused by the climate phenomenon called La Ni"a in the Pacific Ocean. Waters have cooled and forced the Pacific rainbelt towards Australia's east coast.

This also has an effect on the jet stream, a channel of strong winds high in the atmosphere, which has pushed Atlantic depressions towards Britain.

A Met Office forecaster said: "It is going to be relatively mild in London for the rest of the week but it is difficult to predict exactly how warm it will get."