A sunny start with clear spells for most of the UK on Monday, but with clear skies into the night it will be a frosty morning in many places and a fairly foggy one.

A meteorologist at the Met Office, Aidan McGivern, said: “Fog patches forming quite readily during Monday evening, across central and eastern parts in particular - quite dense fog by dawn.

“It is a cold and fairly bleak start across central eastern areas with some dense fog patches in places could cause disruption to travel with a yellow warning issued.”

It will be grey until early afternoon in some places, but brighter skies appear in the afternoon.

There is a huge contrast between the north and south of the country. The north should expect milder weather with Stornoway reaching highs of 11C - which is warmer than Greece, Spain and Italy.

London will be very chilly, reaching only 5C.

Mr McGivern added: “Big temperature contrast again, clouding over the west with a freshening breeze and mild air, staying chilly in the south-east.

“And as this feature moves its way slowly southwards, through Tuesday night we are going to see increasing persistent rain across Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

On Wednesday, the rain will move to northern England.

The dampest regions will be the northwestern regions over the western hills, but below this, it will be fairly mild.

For Scotland and Northern Ireland, once the cloud clears it will be clear skies.

It will be a frosty start for the far north, but it should be a sunny day.

The secret of predicting the UK’s weather forecast up to two months in advance may have been unlocked, according to researchers.

UK forecasts are notoriously hard to predict because of the highly changeable climate.

It’s tempting to look up a long-term forecast, but for the most accurate prediction, you are best of studying a patch of the ocean more than 2,000 miles away, according to experts.

The researchers believe the weather in an area of the North Atlantic can give us an accurate forecast for how wet or dry the British summer will be up to two months in advance.

According to the University of Reading team, the test is nearly 60 per cent accurate.

The experts say if the sea of Newfoundland is warm from April to May the UK can expect a drier summer in July and August.

But, when the temperature in the region is cold in the spring, Britain will expect a more damp summer.

The reason why the patch of Canadian ocean 2,100 miles away affects our weather is because of the jet stream - which is a fast-moving wind which blows summer rainstorms to the UK.

Warmer temperatures means the jet stream blows further north and so it will miss the British Isles.

This is known as the Summer East Atlantic (SEA) pattern.

Dr Osso added: “The SEA pattern has a particularly strong influence on rainfall in the British Isles.

“When its waters in spring are warmer than normal, this leads to reduced summer rainfall over the UK, while when its waters are colder than average it leads to increased rainfall.”

Dr Osso about 3.5in (90mm) of rain is the difference between a wet and a dry summer.