Suffolk has basked in warm spring sunshine today – but a wintry spell is expected to bring rain, strong winds, freezing temperatures and possibly even sleet this weekend.

Flood alerts have been issued in several coastal areas nationwide amid grim forecasts of floods, snow and 80mph winds over the coming days.

The forecast is in stark contrast to some glorious spring-like scenes in Suffolk today, but Jim Bacon, forecaster at Weatherquest, said the weather in the region will take a turn for the worst at the end of the week.

He said: “The weather has been nice and spring-like today, but not particularly hot – it got to around 8C (46F) or 9C (48F), which is around normal.

“There has been pretty much unbroken sunshine everywhere today, with a fleck or so of cloud but nothing to spoil things.

“Tomorrow it will start fine with a touch of frost but will become cloudy with outbreaks of rain later after dark in most places.

“Some rain will be around on Thursday and it will be more changeable with more rain on Thursday night and into Friday. There will be more rain on Saturday and it will be much colder during Saturday. We will see it feeling a good deal colder and unsettled at the end of the week and at the weekend. Unsettled showers are possible, and it could be blustery with maybe a bit of sleet on Saturday.

“At this time of year the sunshine will make it feel reasonable during the day, although it will feel cold in the wind, and at night time (the temperature) will be quite low. I would expect some frost on Saturday night, with it being -2C (28F) or -3C (27F) in places.”