Bank Holiday weather: Monday's weather to be a 'mixed bag' with plenty of rain - Met Office

The first May bank holiday looks set to be a rainy one for much of the UK, a wet end to what has been an extra warm week.

Spring has been up to its usual tricks over the long weekend, following on from a warmer than average week - which also saw thunderstorms and heavy rain. But as the long weekend draws to a close, the Met Office says Monday’s forecast is less than certain across the UK’s southern counties.

The forecaster said it would likely rain in the morning. “Expect a wetter morning,” a spokesperson told PA. “I’m hopeful by the afternoon there will be some drier interludes that develop in there, but there could still be some heavy showers around.”

The rest of England and Wales should be largely dry, with some sunny spells and a few scattered showers. However, heavy rain could moves across Scotland and northern England in the afternoon.

This comes after what’s already expected to be a tumultuous Sunday. A Met Office spokesperson said: “We’re looking at a mixed picture across the UK again: largely fairly cloudy skies across the northern half of the UK again, but I’m more hopeful as the day goes on the cloud will break a bit.

“So there will be some bright or sunny spells across the northern half of the UK but some scattered showers that could be heavy across Scotland, the odd rumble of thunder is possible,” they added. Sunny patches are expected to once again reach between 17C and 20C and cloud-covered patches up to 14C or 15C.

The past week has seen the UK hit with thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, while also experiencing its hottest days of the year so far on Wednesday and Thursday - for all four countries. A peak temperature of 23.4C was recorded in Santon Downham in Suffolk, while in Scotland, the mercury hit 22.1C in Kinlochewe and Achnagart in the north Highlands.

Next week is also expected to see temperatures reach the 20s for many parts of the UK.