Met office predicts 24c temperatures as Bank Holiday getaway begins

Summer’s back for the Bank Holiday! Thousands of Britons hit the road ahead of three-day weekend that is set for sun and 24C… after deluge during the week

• The Met Office predicts temperatures will peak this weekend at around 24C in London – as warm as Lisbon 
• Ten areas of England are still classified as being in ‘drought status’ despite rain showers earlier this week
• Festival goers in Reading, Leeds and Notting Hill can expect settled weather for the duration of the weekend 

Britain is set to bask in ‘long sunny spells’ as warm as Portugal over the bank holiday weekend as the drought continues.

Widespread sunshine on Sunday and Monday will only be dampened by isolated showers on Saturday, in ‘average’ conditions that holidaymakers can rely upon, the Met Office said.

Temperatures are on course to peak at 24C in London, far below the UK’s recent 40C heatwave, though this will be as warm as Lisbon in Portugal.

The 10 areas of England still in drought status will remain ‘very, very dry’, the Met Office said, in a settled spell for the Reading and Leeds festivals and Notting Hill carnival.

Thousands of motorists faced long delays as they headed to the seaside for the last bank holiday before schools return, pictured today, the M4 outside Swansea in South Wales

Over on the M5 heading southbound past Bristol today, holiday makers going to Devon and Cornwall also faced long traffic jams

Today in Henley on Thames, walkers enjoyed a relaxed pace while strolling through the Mill Meadows earlier this afternoon

Sunshine and clouds are predicted across most of the country this weekend with temperatures hitting a 25C maximum

Dan Stroud, a forecaster at the Met Office, said ‘west is best’ for those seeking the sunniest weather, in the West Country and Wales, though London is set to be warmest.

‘There will be some decent sunny spells throughout the weekend and feeling warm in the sunshine, with temperatures generally in the low to mid 20s across England and Wales and in the high teens to 20C in the north.

‘Saturday will be largely dry and settled with high pressure dominating the picture.

‘Although there is a mix of sunny spells and a chance of a few scattered showers across England and Wales during the course of Saturday, those showers will be mostly light.

‘Into Sunday, it is largely fine and dry with plenty of sunny spells, temperatures slightly above average in the south so feeling warm in the sunshine.

‘We are seeing cloudier skies across north west Scotland with outbreaks of light rain and drizzle.

‘For Bank Holiday Monday itself, it is still rather cloudy in the far northwest of Scotland with a low chance of patchy rain, elsewhere mainly fine and dry with plenty of sunny spells.

‘It’s going to be a case of west is best.

‘There is a bit of an easterly wind, nothing unpleasant, so cloudier skies across North Sea coast areas.’

The M25 heading to Kent and the south east coast was also running slowly this afternoon ahead of an effective blackout

In Weymouth, Dorset, thousands of people staked out the places on the sand to enjoy the Friday afternoon sunshine

This weekend temperatures are expected to reach around 24C – considerably down on recent weeks where thermometers hit  more than 40C during what the Met Office described as a red alert, pictured today in Weymouth

In St Leonards on Sea, Sussex, a group of protesters complained today about the amount of sewage being pumped into the nation’s rivers and streams

While in Edinburgh today, piles of rubbish grew as the city struggled to cope with the ongoing bin strike 

Revelers today at the Leeds Festival in Bramham Park were preparing for their big weekend to conclude the holiday season 

Tens of thousands of revellers will attend the Reading and Leeds festivals between Friday and Sunday, with the rapper Dave and the Arctic Monkeys among the headliners, pictured Bramham Park, Leeds earlier today

Despite overnight down pours in Reading, the grass, pictured today at the venue remains brown with large sections worn away 

Tens of thousands of revellers will attend the Reading and Leeds festivals between Friday and Sunday, with the rapper Dave and the Arctic Monkeys among the headliners.

Meanwhile, the Notting Hill Carnival in west London will return from Saturday to Monday for the first time since the pandemic, with two million people expected to celebrate.

Torrential downpours battered the UK this week following the UK’s second heatwave of the summer amid a yellow thunderstorm warning, with one part of Essex seeing more than an inch of rain in just one hour.

But as of Wednesday, the UK had only 46 per cent of the average total rainfall for August.

The ongoing dry weather has seen drought declared across swathes of England, with parched grass and struggling crops, streams drying up and river, reservoir and aquifer levels low, and hosepipe bans brought in for millions as heatwaves pushed up demand for water.

Forecasters are yet to spot a sustained period of above-average rainfall, which is needed to end the drought.

In west London, chipboard hoardings were erected around properties along the parade route as workers today secure the area

This is the first time in two year Carnival returns to the city’s streets for the first time in two years because of covid, pictured today

Forecasters are yet to spot a sustained period of above-average rainfall, which is needed to end the drought. Pictured today, Notting Hill carnival route

Source: Read Full Article