Dry and fine conditions around Aylesbury are here to stay for a bit - weather column by Claire Jones, forecaster at MetDesk

We have seen some of the warmest temperatures of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 15C across the Aylesbury Vale last Friday.

Over the weekend, there was barely a cloud in the sky and it felt warm in the sunshine, despite temperatures only reaching around 10-14C. Elsewhere in the UK, north-west Scotland saw temperatures reach up to 20.2C in Kinlochewe on Saturday afternoon. This is about 10C above the average temperature for this time of year and made it the warmest day of the year so far.

Temperatures across the UK have not reached 20C since late October. As we moved into this week, it has got steadily warmer, with plenty more sunshine and temperatures reaching up to 17C across the Aylesbury region.

The dry and settled weather we have experienced over the last week has been thanks to a high pressure system that has been to the east of the UK. It was a particularly intense high pressure system with 1051.6hPa recorded over Denmark on Saturday, making it the highest sea level pressure ever recorded in Denmark in March.

So far this year, high pressure has played a significant part in the weather. Much of January was influenced by high pressure, then, after a stormy interlude in February, it looks as though the second half of March is back to being high pressure dominated.

The rest of the week and into next week will see the high pressure become establish over the UK. This means the largely dry and fine conditions are here to stay a bit longer.

However, temperatures are expected to moderate and slowly return close to average for late March.