UK weather: Gales, heavy rain and snow expected during Easter holidays

The bank holiday weekend weather is set to be an improvement on the wind and rain of the past week

The Gulf Stream helps to keep Britain from freezing over in winter, but is now slowing down faster than it ever has in the past 1000 years (Getty)

Those hoping for a warm and sunny Easter weekend look set to be disappointed.

But the weather should slowly improve in the lead-up to Sunday, after a spell of strong gales and heavy rain early in the week.

Over the next few days there are likely to be strong gusts of wind reaching 50mph or more and heavy downpours across the country.

The Met Office has in place severe weather warnings for ice across the majority of Scotland and northern England, while wind warnings cover southwest England and Wales.

Hill snow is expected in high areas of Scotland and north of the Pennines.

On Tuesday and Wednesday there will be a scattering of showers and further snow in Scotland.

A further band of rain will sweep across the country from the south-west during the week and showers are likely to linger into Good Friday.

Gusts of wind should have eased by the end of the week leading to relatively pleasant, if not ideal, bank holiday weather.

Reports of a snowy Easter weekend are wide of the mark though. It is likely that the weather will have cleared up, but cloud cover will remain, foiling barbecue plans.

Charlie Powell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told The Independent: “The weather will gradually improve through the coming week and while the Easter weekend is not likely to be sunny it will be an improvement on the current weather.

“Temperatures look to be in the mid-single figures.”