May Day Bank Holiday weekend Met Office weather forecast: Parts of UK hotter than Hawaii but will it continue over weekend?

As the UK gears up for the May Day Bank Holiday weekend - parts of the country could be hotter than Hawaii - at least on Friday (May 1). Temperatures could hit 27C as we enter the long weekend, according to the Met Office, but people are being warned the sunny weather may not last.

Experts said heavy rain and thunder could feature amid more changeable weather through the weekend. But Friday will be among the hottest days of the year - and if the Mercury tops 27C, it will be, and compares favourably to Honolulu, capital of Hawaii, where highs of 26C are forecast.

"We’ve got some very warm, humid air coming up from the south," said Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge. That means we will see some very warm weather, particularly in the east and the South East, because there we’ll see the best of the sunshine. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean everybody’s going to get a warm, dry, beautiful day."

Cloud over the central spine of the UK, from Scotland, the Pennines and into the Midlands could produce some heavy rain on Friday. "Certainly the odd rumble of thunder is possible there, particularly over the Midlands," Mr Partridge said.

Fridays highs in London and the South East will be around 10C higher than averages for the time of year, which are 15 to 17C, the Met Office said. Meanwhile, Cardiff could be warmer than Athens, where forecasters are predicting a high of 14C on Friday, which is 5C cooler than the estimated top temperatures in the Welsh capital.

The warm weather still falls short of the record high in April of 29.4C, which was recorded in Camden Square, central London, in 1949, Met Office records show.

Weather over the May Day weekend will be “a different story” though, with changeable conditions forecast across the UK.

“The weekend is a bit of a different story, really,” said Mr Partridge. “There will be some bright spells in there as well on Saturday, but there will also be showers, particularly across northern and western parts of the UK.”

Rain is forecast across the country on Sunday and temperatures will continue to cool towards averages for April. “By the time we get to Monday, we’re actually going to see temperatures roughly where they should be for this time of year,” Mr Partridge added.

“We’re looking at elevens and twelves (degrees Celsius) in the north and fifteens and sixteens in the south, so it will feel quite fresh and chilly compared to what we’ve had.”