UK weather: Showers threaten Jubilee bank holiday weekend washout, forecasters warn

Partygoers told to make preparations and keep a ‘good raincoat or a gazebo’

(Future Publishing via Getty Imag)

Wet weather is threatening a Jubilee bank holiday weekend washout, forecasters have warned.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a four day extended bank holiday from Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June 2022, will see events and activities celebrating the event erupt across the UK.

According to the official Jubilee webpage, an impressive 2,429 public events and 2,579 parties or private events have been planned in the UK so far.

And street parties, a staple of major Royal celebrations, are expected to attract more than ten million Britons.

But forecasters have urged partygoers up and down the country to make preparations to keep a “good raincoat or a gazebo” in tow to avoid soggy clothes and sandwiches as showers threaten to rain on the four-day parade.

Annie Shuttleworth, meteorologist at the Met Office, told The Independent there is still a high degree of uncertainty with regard to the exact areas that will be hit with rainfall over the course of the bank holiday, but urged Brits to keep an eye on the forecast as the country draws closer to the festivities.

She said: “The regionality of how things will be - where we’ll see the dryer weather and where we’ll see any wetter weather, particularly where we’ll see rainfall over the Jubilee weekend - is where we have got out most uncertainty.

“We’re expecting high pressure to bring some dry weather to at least northern areas of the UK. But across the east, we could see some showers and across the south there is a risk of some showers as well.

“All the temperatures look like they will be about average for the time of year, so the mid to high teens.

London will be the hub of this year’s Jubilee celebrations - acting host to the Queen’s birthday parade, the lighting of the principal beacon during a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the service of thanksgiving for the Queen’s reign at St Paul’s Cathedral, as well as almost 300 Big Jubilee Lunches.

But Ms Shuttleworth said that, unfortunately, there is no promise that the capital will be granted dry weather for the special occasion.

She added: “I would say that, over the four days, there’s likely to be a mix of sunshine, but there’s also going to be a risk of showers.

“People making preparations for the Jubilee weekend should prepare at least to be shower-proof in whatever they are planning.”

Rainfall aside, with the windy weather expected to dominate much of this week, the Met Office have said that, come the Jubilee weekend, this should ease away.

“At the moment, we have got fairly windy and breezy weather across the UK, and it does look like it will be calmer than it is at the moment,” Ms Shuttleworth continued.

“We’re not expecting any particularly windy weather, just how dry it will be is our main uncertainty and that that has knock on effects on the temperatures.

“The main thing is the risk of rain. People are going to be having to keep an eye out closer to the time as whether to plan for a good raincoat or a gazebo.”