´óÏó´«Ã½

Oh yes, make no mistake: I hate the term 'scorchio' and implore for it toÌýbe banned from all weather forecasts.

For ever. From now.

But now thatÌýI have your attention, it's well worth a look at the satellite images I've addedÌýbelow. A glorious early summer weekend, as seen in true colour from space. The imagery is courtesy of .

The firstÌýwas taken during the early afternoonÌýtoday (Sunday), with unbroken skies above all of southern and central England, as high pressure sits overhead, surpressing the cloud development. Glorious stuff.

Ìý No wonder temperatures have reached 26C+, in the strong sunshine.

The second photoÌýillustratesÌýthe slightly different story for a number of coastal areas yesterdayÌý(Saturday). Note the sea fog draped along England's North Sea coasts (and some nifty lee waves into parts of Kent, too). This allÌýlargely cleared laterÌýduring the day across much of Norfolk, Essex, SuffolkÌýand elsewhere. However, it remained stubbornly glued to some French coasts all day, formed in the slack easterly drift across cool (10-11C) sea surface temperatures. Note the airliner contrail clearly visible heading ENE out of Dartmoor.

In both photos, the influence of high ground is very evident, as convective clouds build in the flow, forced upwards downwind of the Pennines, Snowdonia and some other upland areas. But without this conspicuous orographic effect to push some clouds skywards against the dominating influence of stable, subsidingÌýatmosphericÌýconditions, much of the nation remains cloud-free.

Monday's weather looks equally very warm (possible warmer still)Ìýfor most southern districts, before we see a transition back towards seasonal average temperatures towards mid-week.