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UK weather: Britain faces thunderstorms as Bank Holiday weekend approaches

Low pressure from the west will cause rainfall across the country

Antonia Molloy
Tuesday 20 May 2014 10:12 BST
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Thundery showers are forecast for the coming week
Thundery showers are forecast for the coming week

The UK has spent the weekend basking in high temperatures and glorious sunshine - but the heat wave is set to broken by a series of thunderstorms over the next few days.

While most of the country is set to continue to enjoy the summery weather throughout Monday, rain and showers are expected in western parts.

Scattered thundery showers are forecast for the evening, continuing throughout the night in the southwest.

The rain is due to spread to northern Wales and central and northern England on Tuesday, before hitting the northwest and southeast on Wednesday.

Temperatures over the weekend soared to highs of 24.5C in central London - hotter than in many Mediterranean holiday destinations - and Britons dusted off their flip-flops and shorts and flocked to beaches and pub gardens.

But it’s a case of making hay while the sun shines because Thursday and Friday will see showers and longer spells of rain throughout the country, continuing right through the Bank Holiday weekend.

Charlie Powell, a meteorologist at the Met Office said: “The weather is becoming more unsettled and that’s due to low pressure over the next few days.

“We already have a very weak front of cloud in the west of the UK and that will move eastwards bit by bit as pressure moves from the southwest.

“We will see a much more mobile pattern of weather as the UK is stuck between this low pressure coming in from the west and high pressure coming in from Europe in the east.”

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