Bank holiday weekend will bring a taste of summer, but rain

There will be a real taste of summer for anyone heading outdoors over much of Britain this holiday weekend — although there could be a sting in the tail on Monday.

For most of the UK the weekend will be warm and dry, and some places could have the highest temperatures of the year, up to 24C (75F).

The fine weather comes from a finger of the sub-tropical Azores high-pressure system thrusting up from the south and keeping bands of rain from the Atlantic at bay.

However, northwestern parts of the country will be draped by weather fronts sweeping from Iceland, so showers and cooler temperatures are expected, although with sunny intervals.

But on Bank Holiday Monday the weather picture may flip completely. Although the forecasters at the Met Office are still uncertain, a damp squib seems to be in store.

North Wales and northern England should have a pleasant day of sunshine but the rest of the country is likely to be cloudy, humid and wet. The South East may be particularly wet as a band of rain drives up from the Channel with up to around 9mm (0.35in) rainfall expected.

For the rest of the week, though, the Azores high reasserts itself and brings back the warm sunshine.

Things could be so much worse. Ever since Harold Wilson’s Government fixed the late spring Bank Holiday in 1967 to replace the moveable Whitsun holiday, it has usually been a case of sunshine and showers.

In 2000 it was a washout — a storm over the weekend brought torrents of rain, hail, thunder and lightning.

In 1993, gales battered most of the UK. But the warning signs came only a fortnight previously, when a freak snowstorm swept northern England and southern Scotland.

Perhaps 1984 was the biggest shocker of all. A raw Arctic wind and rain ruined the bank holiday weekend over the South East and the Midlands, with almost a month’s worth of rain falling in many parts.

To balance things out, though, most of the late May Bank Holidays have been reasonably warm and sunny and the highest temperature recorded was 28C (83F) at Norwich in 1992.