IF YOU are planning to head to a pub garden or sit outside with a coffee in a café this weekend then you will be pleased to know the sun will be shinning.

Basingstoke residents will be able to enjoy a warm and sunny weekend, the Met Office has confirmed.

You can expect to bask in daytime temperatures in of up to 16 degrees Celsius on Saturday with blue skies and sunshine forecast all day.

The warm conditions will then give way to a chilly evening with lows of five degrees Celsius, before the mercury picks back up again on Sunday afternoon.

The dry and sunny conditions are expected to persist on Sunday, but temperatures are expected to be slightly cooler at around 12 degrees Celsius at midday.

Conditions should remain fine in the Basingstoke heading into early next week.

The warm break comes after the UK shivered through the coldest start to April since 2013.

The Met Office said mean temperatures were 2-4C cooler than average for the time of year between April 1 and April 18.

Here is your weekend weather forecast:

 Today:

Another fine and dry day with some patchy cloud but also plenty of sunshine and generally light winds. Feeling warm with afternoon temperatures a little higher than on Thursday. Maximum temperature 17 °C.

Tonight:

Cold with partly cloudy skies this evening. Perhaps cloudier by the end of the night but with a touch of frost possible by dawn for many parts. Minimum temperature -1 °C.

Saturday:

Likely remaining mild or warm for many in sunny spells on Saturday. Dry with a further risk of frost overnight. Maximum temperature 17 °C.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Occasionally cloudy, especially near the coast, but still with some sunny spells. Cool by day, and cold with frost possible overnight. Increasingly cloudy with showers likely by Tuesday.