Temperatures are set to fall by nearly 10C this bank holiday weekend following the warmest start to May on record.
A new May record was set on Thursday, with highs of 29.3C in Kew Gardens, south-west London.
But temperatures are expected to fall from highs of 22C in London and southern England on Saturday down to 16C on Sunday and 15C on Monday, the early May bank holiday.
According to the Met Office, the bank holiday will be ‘on the cool side, exacerbated by the ongoing wind in the east and south’.
Jonathan Vautrey, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: ‘Northerly winds are going to be driving in those much cooler and fresher conditions across all areas of the UK.
‘That northerly wind is coming down from the North Sea, it’s going to be filtering in a reasonable amount of clouds across eastern coastal areas, both Scotland and England.
‘So here, temperature is going to be held back quite a bit.
‘When you add on the strength of that wind as well, it is going to be much cooler and much chillier compared to recent days.’
While south-east England is expecting somewhat mild temperatures of between 14C and 15C, temperatures in north-west England are expected to fall to 13C and the northeast is set for a chillier 11C.
‘On Saturday temperatures will be around the typical average values for this time of year,’ Mr Vautrey continued.
‘Into Sunday and Monday, we’re actually going to see them dropping slightly below average, again, primarily across the eastern half of the UK.’
Provisional Met Office figures also showed the country recorded its brightest April since records began in 1910, with England seeing its sunniest ever, and the other home nations their second sunniest.
The relief from the heat comes after firefighters battled wildfires this week as the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said on Thursday they have responded to 439 wildfires since the start of the year, compared with 250 in the same period in 2022, 60 in 2023 and just 44 in 2024.
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