The unseasonably warm weather is expected to continue for another day for most of Britain before parts of the country face possible thunderstorms later in the week, forecasters said.

Wednesday will be sunny with possible highs of 20C (68F) but is unlikely to continue a trend of record-breaking February temperatures set earlier in the week.

Warmest UK February temperatures
(PA Graphics)

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said some parts of southern and western England could be facing thunder on Thursday.

“Tomorrow will be pretty sunny again for most places,” he said on Tuesday evening.

“There might be a little bit of mist and fog around to start with but that should largely clear.

“It won’t be quite as exceptionally warm so I don’t think we will break the record we have reached today.”

Britain basked in its hottest winter day on record on Tuesday when the mercury hit 21.2C (69.4F) in Kew Gardens, London.

That followed a record of 20.6C (68.5F) at Trawsgoed in Ceredigion, West Wales, on Monday, which beat the previous high in 1998 of 19.7C (67.4F) in Greenwich, south-east London.

Mr Burkill said temperatures will cool slightly on Thursday, but remain in the mid-teens, with a chance of heavy showers.

“Those (showers will be) most widespread in the south and west and some of those could be quite heavy, maybe even the odd rumble of thunder mixed in,” he said.

Winter weather Feb 25th 2019
People walking on Blyth Beach in Northumberland in 2018 (top) and today (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Friday and Saturday are expected to be largely dry but cloudy with the chance of a few scattered showers.

Mr Burkill added: “For many Saturday is not looking too bad but a weather system is likely to come in, affecting particularly northern parts of the UK.”

Experts have said climate change has played a role in the unusually warm February temperatures.

Winter weather Feb 25th 2019
Victor the polar bear enjoyed snow at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster last year, but Pixel and Nissan had to make do with bare grass this year (Danny Lawson/PA)

Met Office climate spokesman Grahame Madge said: “Climate change has made what would have already been an extremely warm event even warmer and is probably responsible for tipping it over the 20C threshold.”

Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the temperatures were “consistent with the clear climate change signal that we are seeing in the UK”.

Winter weather Feb 26th 2019
A year ago snow was blanketing Edinburgh, a stark contrast to today’s sunshine (Jane Barlow/PA)

Last February, when Britain was hit by the Beast from the East, the warmest temperature recorded was 14.2C (57.6F) in Cardiff Bute Park, South Glamorgan.