Much of Britain is set to be bathed in glorious sunshine this weekend, with forecasters predicting that Bank Holiday Monday could be the hottest day of the year so far.
The Met Office said central and southeast England were likely to enjoy the best sunshine along with East Anglia, with temperatures here creeping as high as 23 Celsius (73 Fahrenheit) — beating much of Italy and some parts of France.
Drivers have been warned to leave extra time for their journeys as millions seek to take advantage of the sunny weather.
“The best of any warm sunshine is likely away from the coasts across central and southern parts of England,” said Will Lang, chief forecaster at the Met Office.
“Northern parts of UK look set to have some rather changeable conditions, but there will be some bright and dry spells to enjoy.”
The Met Office said Saturday may start cloudy with rain across southern counties, but this would clear away with temperatures rising into the mid teens.
Scotland, though, is set to become windy with some rain spreading from the west — and the weather here will remain unsettled into Sunday and Monday.
Motoring groups have warned that millions will take to the roads over the weekend, with routes towards the coast expected to be particularly busy.
“Finally we seem to have shaken off the cold and are enjoying a good spell of weather which will inevitably encourage more people into taking a short break this weekend, either in the UK or abroad,” said RAC roadside operations manager Matt Dellaway.
“We are anticipating UK roads will be at their busiest since Easter and therefore we are preparing our patrols to deal with the inevitable increase in breakdowns amid greater congestion.”
Temperatures soar in time for bank holiday weekend
