More mild weather forecast for final shopping weekend before Christmas

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/18/december-christmas-mild-weather-met-office

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The unseasonably warm weather is set to continue through the weekend before Christmas, with forecasters predicting exceptionally mild nights.

The Met Office has reported one of the mildest starts to December in more than 50 years.

Related: Unseasonal UK weather: share your photos

Although temperatures in some parts of the country will reach around 15C (59F) this weekend, the combination of moist air and strong winds will lead to heavy rain in some areas.

A Met Office spokeswoman said: “We are experiencing some mild weather. But there is a yellow warning for heavy rain in certain areas in most parts of Scotland, north-west England, Yorkshire and Humber, and Wales from 3pm on Friday to tomorrow [Saturday] morning.”

The Met Office said 20-30mm of rain could fall in these areas, with 50-60mm on some high ground.

Another exceptionally mild night tonight with temperatures 10 °C above the average for the time of year! pic.twitter.com/XKqSuzJXUP

The spokeswoman added: “Some of those areas have had heavy rain, so saturated ground can be problematic.” Storm Desmond, which swept across the UK earlier this month, caused an estimated £500m of damage across Cumbria and led rail networks in northern England and Scotland to fail.

Breezy and very mild weather is expected into Saturday. Local heavy rain will continue, mainly affecting northern and western hills, but it will be drier elsewhere.

Sunday will be less mild with brighter, showery conditions, while more local heavy rain will fall on Monday. The south of the UK will experience wind and gales on Tuesday, but elsewhere in the country it will be brighter with showers.

The first half of December has been very mild across England and Wales, with maximum daily temperatures about 3C above average for the UK as a whole. Forecasters said the weather over Christmas was expected to be mild and unsettled.

Related: Second Saharan dust cloud to hit England and Wales this weekend

The warm conditions have led daffodils to bloom across the UK. The flowers, more usually associated with Easter than Christmas, have been seen as far north as Chester and Northern Ireland in a week when daytime temperatures were as much as 10C above the seasonal average.

A thin ribbon of dust, lifted from the Sahara, settled across parts of England and Wales during Wednesday night after mild southerly airflow. The dust has been detected in many parts of the south of the UK by monitoring stations.

Despite the current mild spell, this year’s damp, cool spring and summer mean statistics for 2015 as a whole hover around average.