EASTER barbeques or sunny afternoons with the kids or gardening are looking increasingly unlikely for the holiday weekend. And Good Friday is looking the worst of the four days.

Tomorrow the Met Office is forecasting that you'll be waking to heavy rain, with light rain throughout the rest of the morning and grey skies for the afternoon. The forecast high is 10degC.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday are predicted to be dry at least, but with cloudy skies. The temperatures will rise but only by one degree a day.

Nick Prebble, of MeteoGroup, said: "Recent Easters have seen quite varied weather, and this is to be expected since spring is a transitional season as the sun brings a greater influence to the Northern Hemisphere.

"The late Easter weekend of 2011 saw remarkably high temperatures, with parts of the south seeing the mercury rise to 27C (81F).

"On the other hand, it was unseasonably cold during the Easter of 2013 following one of the coldest Marches on record where significant snow falls occurred in places.

"The good news for the UK is that after the rain has cleared on Good Friday, this coming Easter weekend is likely to be more settled compared to recent days as high pressure builds from the west.

"Remember that high pressure is associated with sinking air in the atmosphere thus limiting the opportunity for the formation of precipitation.

"However, high pressure can also mean that air can become trapped and slow to move, and with the air being fairly moist this weekend there are likely to be large areas of cloud extending across the country. The cloud may even be thick enough to give a few spots of drizzle, as well as the potential for dense fog patches to form overnight due to the light winds."