UK weather: Temperatures to plummet to 10C after sunniest spring on record

Met Office confirms that May was the sunniest month on record

Temperatures in the UK are predicted to plummet to as low as 10C in the coming days, after the warm end to May made this spring the sunniest on record.

Cooler weather and heavy rain in some places will replace the high temperatures, a few days after highs of 28C were reached over the weekend.

This comes as the Met Office confirmed that the UK experienced its sunniest spring since records started in 1929.

According to the Met Office, the UK had more than 573 hours of sunshine between 1 March and 27 May this year, eclipsing the previous record of 555.3 hours from 1948.

May was also the sunniest calendar month on record, with its 266 hours of sunshine beating the previous record from June 1957 by one hour.

Matthew Box, a forecaster at the Met Office, said that temperatures would now “take a tumble”.

"We're saying goodbye to the prolific temperatures of mid-20s almost nationwide, and now we're seeing something returning much more to normal, or even actually quite cold for the time of year to be honest, depending on where you are in the UK," he added.

On Wednesday, showers are likely in many parts of the UK and temperatures are unlikely to rise above 20C in most places.

Other areas will be noticeably cooler, with maximum temperatures in the South West and the Midlands set to be as low as 11 or 12C. Further north, some areas will have highs of 10C.

Last week, the highest temperature of the year was recorded in the Scottish Highlands, where it reached 28.3C on 29 May.

Additional reporting from PA