‘Fairly chilly’ bank holiday for VE Day events after record temperatures
The Met Office forecasts that temperatures will reach a maximum of 15C or 16C on the south coast of England.
A “fairly chilly” spell is expected to follow record-breaking hot weather in the UK as the 80th anniversary of VE Day is marked with a military procession, flypast and street parties.
The Met Office forecasts that temperatures will reach a maximum of 15C or 16C on the south coast of England on bank holiday Monday, May 5 but said northern parts of the UK would “struggle to get into the double figures”.
Temperatures are projected to fall from highs of 22C in London and parts of southern England on Saturday to around 15C or 16C on Sunday.
There may be some rain on Monday in central London where thousands of people are expected to line the streets for a VE Day procession with a schedule that includes a Churchill speech performance by actor Timothy Spall, a flypast including the Red Arrows, and a military procession of 1,300 members of the armed forces.
The King, the Queen, the Prime Minister and Second World War veterans will watch the event from a platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace.
Street parties, picnics and community celebrations will also take place across the UK on Monday ahead of the anniversary on Thursday, May 8.
Simon Partridge, meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “To start off the week on Monday, the temperatures we are looking at are fairly chilly.
“That said, though, it will be mostly dry, with light winds as well, so we will lose the winds that we’ve had over recent days, so that will improve things.”
He added: “It looks like there should be a few showers down across the south-east of England on bank holiday Monday, but the rest of the country will be dry, with bright, sunny spells.
“It probably won’t be shorts and T-shirt weather, but at the same time, you won’t need coats or umbrellas.
“From Monday night to Tuesday and onto Wednesday, any rural spot really across the UK has the potential of seeing a little bit of frost.
“So we will start the week off quite chilly, with temperatures just below average for the time of year, but as we go through the week, you’ll get slightly warmer each day, and by the time we get to next weekend, we could very well be back in the low 20Cs once again.”
The cooler spell comes after the UK saw its warmest start to May on record, with a high of 29.3C at Kew Gardens, south-west London, on Thursday.