Spring is on the way... and forecasters say the good weather is here to stay

But forecasters say signs of spring will start to show as early as the end of this week with climbing temperatures across the UK.

The Met Office said there will be more sun and increasingly mild conditions nationwide, with levels rising from Thursday as a tropical maritime air travels up.

Hoping for some milder weather? You're in luck! https://t.co/khS2BSs7w8

— Met Office (@metoffice) March 7, 2016

On Thursday, temperatures are predicted to reach 10C (50F) in southern England with figures for the rest of the UK still high, reaching up to 9C (48.2F).

These conditions are expected to reach Scotland with only north-west England and Wales excluded from the surge.

This area will stay wet and cloudy, flat-lining at around 7C (44.6F), but is still expected to be milder than usual improving by a couple of degrees at the weekend.

Lambs in the field. — Is spring really just around the corner? (Joe Giddens/PA)

In the rest of the UK, the weekend marks the beginning of accelerating temperatures – up to 13C (55.4F) in the south and 11C (51.8F) in the north.

Wintry nights will also end as levels reach “well above freezing” across the UK by Friday.

Met Office spokeswoman Lindsay Mears said: “It should be getting warmer towards the end of the week, starting on Thursday. There will be a change in the weather with a tropical maritime air coming into the UK, causing milder conditions.”

Snow in Peak District. — Some parts of the UK are still covered in snow (Joe Giddens/PA)

Tropical maritime air can raise temperatures several degrees above average, travelling from the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and Bermuda.

Mears said these stereotypically “spring-like” temperatures were here to stay, adding: “It should affect most of the UK apart from the North West which is likely to be… wetter and cloudier. It will still be milder than it has been anyway.

“Spring began on the first of March but what you might think of as spring weather (is starting). Those temperatures will climb… so it will seem a lot warmer than it has been and it looks like it will stay mild.”

Veteran weatherman Mervyn warns there are more storms to come