Bank Holiday Monday saw many heading to the coast for what tuned out to be the hottest bank holiday for the early May Bank Holiday since records began in 1978.
London recorded the warmest temperature of the day at around 4pm on Bank Holiday Monday when the mercury hot 27.8 degrees – now a record high for the Bank Holiday Monday.
The warmest early May Bank Holiday Monday was previously 23.6 °C recorded on 3 May 1999 in Martyr Worthy (Hampshire), Worcester and Malvern.
Before the weekend, Andy Page, Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office said: “It’ll be very warm again in the sunshine and we are expecting this to be the hottest early May Bank Holiday Monday on record; it’s also possible that temperatures today will make it the hottest early May Bank Holiday weekend on record”, and his prediction proved to be spot on.
After the Bank Holiday, the weather begins to change as bands of cloud and rain push in from the Atlantic. On Tuesday Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and southwest England can expect some rain for a time, while areas further east will see a few showers, possibly thundery in places, but it will still be very warm here for Tuesday at least.
By Wednesday it will be fresher everywhere with broken cloud and some sunshine, but further rain will reach western and northern areas during the day. This rain moving across remaining areas of the UK overnight to leave a day of sunshine and scattered showers on Thursday.