Temperatures are expected to take a sharp dive and be ‘markedly different’ to the unseasonably blistering conditions seen in the UK earlier this week – where the mercury rose to 28C
After days of sizzling sunshine and unusually high temperatures across the UK, the Met Office has officially declared the end of the country’s hot spell.
A dramatic shift in the weather is on the way, with daytime temperatures set to cool significantly across the nation. While the sun may still make the occasional appearance, the warmth is on borrowed time, forecasters say. On Sunday, May 4, temperatures are expected to take a sharp dip and be “markedly different” to the blistering conditions we’ve seen earlier in the week. Met Office meteorologist Honor Criswick explains: “The main theme over the next few days is that it’s going to be feeling much cooler […] particularly across central and eastern areas, and some locations could see a good 10C difference if you compare the temperatures to 24 hours earlier.”
On Saturday, there’s a chance Brits will wake up to mist and fog, particularly across East Anglia. Criswick adds: “There is going to be more cloud across Scotland, some showers feeding through across the very north”, and the southwest will welcome more cloud and showers starting to push their way up from the south. “These could turn quite heavy, paticularly through the course of the day, and there’s a chance they could turn thundery”, Criswick adds.
Many areas will still see a dry start to the weekend, with lots of sunshine and warmth. Across the south, highs will still reach around 20-21C, whilst temperatures across the northeast of Scotland and any north sea coasts will be widely in the mid to low double digits.
But it’s on Sunday where the biggest weather changes will occur. There’s a chance the UK “could see a bit more cloud, particularly in the east – and a few showers feeding through across the north sea […] and East Anglia.” Temperatures will be markedly different compared to those seen earlier in the week. The Met Office predicts highs of 15-16C across the southwest on Sunday, and “many areas in the low double digits”.
In the west, there will still plenty of sunshine, the forecaster adds, with the majority of Brits seeing a largely dry day. But according to a seperate temperature anomaly map by WXCharts, expected temperatures on Sunday are well below the seasonal average.
The cold spell comes after the Met Office announced the UK experienced its sunniest April since records began in 1910, with 47 per cent more sunshine hours than the long-term meteorological average, according to provisional Met Office figures. It was also the sunniest April on record for England, and the second sunniest for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as the mercury soared to 28C in London on Thursday.
