UK weather: Hot spell to end over May bank holiday as temperatures set to drop sharply

Bank Holiday weekend is set to be mostly dry but temperatures are expected to plummet

(PA Wire)

Temperatures are set to drop by more than 10 degrees this Bank Holiday weekend following the hottest start to May on record.

A new May record was set on Thursday with temperatures reaching 29.3C (84.74F) in Kew Gardens, London – beating the previous record of 27.4C (81.3F), which was set in Lossiemouth, Scotland, in 1990, the Met Office said.

However, temperatures are now predicted to plummet.

While much of the country will avoid significant rain, temperatures are expected to dip compared with recent days, with Sunday likely to feel the chilliest.

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said: “Temperatures will range from low double figures in the north to the mid-teens in the south, with averages of around 10C in northern Scotland and 15C or 16C in southern England. It will certainly feel a good deal cooler.”

“The May sunshine is still strong, so it won’t feel too bad if you’re under the sun but if you’re under the cloud it will feel markedly different,” he added.

Saturday may bring some showers, particularly in southern coastal counties, but Mr Snell said “a lot of the UK will be largely dry” across the weekend.

“There’s a fair bit of dry weather around, a few spots of rain here and there, but nothing too widespread,” he said.

Sunday is expected to be the coldest day, with a slight recovery in temperatures possible by Monday.

“By the time we get to Monday, we might start to see a recovery in temperatures,” Mr Snell added, with highs of around 16C in the south and 12C in the far north.

Thursday was also the warmest day of the year so far beating the previous high of 26.7C reached in Wisley, Surrey, on Wednesday.

Firefighters were battling wildfires and warnings were issued over the “hidden dangers” of open water swimming after the recovery of a 16-year-old boy’s body from a lake in Nottingham.

The weather is likely to become more changeable next week as dry, settled periods are interspersed with spells of wetter weather and temperatures closer to the monthly average for May.