Children looking to celebrate the half-term holiday will enjoy glorious sunshine this week - but the warm weather will eventually give way to rain

Initial bursts of sunshine today and tomorrow in London and the south east will see temperatures reach highs of up to 20C (68F).

But people enjoying the half-term break may need to reach for their umbrellas and raincoats with bursts of heavy showers and even thunder predicted from Thursday onwards.

Marco Petagna, senior forecaster with the Met Office, said: "Today looks relatively quiet, with some cloud from the north across the day, but on the whole it will be quite dry and temperatures will be 19C or 20C - a little bit above what we would normally expect for this time of year.

"On Wednesday, things will start off warm in the South and South East, with a few showers in the North.

"But by Thursday it will be more unsettled over the next few days. There will be some heavy rain showers locally, and a few rumbles of thunder in places.

"If you get caught in one of the showers it could be quite heavy for a period of time."

He said the weather would become increasingly changeable as the week progresses, with some blustery winds on Wednesday and gales in exposed areas.