Rain dampens UK bank holiday mood

Britons hoping to spend Bank Holiday Monday on the beach or beside the barbecue are expected to be thwarted by disappointing weather.

Rain is forecast for much of the country, following a weekend of cloudy skies and scattered showers.

Temperatures failed to climb much higher than 19C in the warmest areas over the past two days, with only south-east England staying dry, according to MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association.

Parts of Scotland have seen temperatures drop as low as 10C, with rain and winds of up to 60mph helping to dispel any notion that summer is on its way.

Northern England and Northern Ireland have also experienced blustery conditions, while the South East and Midlands have had the warmest weekend.

Brendan Jones, a senior forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: “Pretty much nowhere in the UK would have seen beach weather on Saturday and yesterday’s was not much better.

“Temperatures along the south coast have been in the mid to high teens so it’s not really been traditional beach weather, although there has been some sunshine around.”

It is not expected to improve much on Monday either, he added.

The lack of need for a parasol and flip flops was reflected by the relatively untroubled road conditions over the past two days.

Traffic was in line with what was anticipated for a normal bank holiday but there were no reports of the kind of tailbacks that ritually greet an outbreak of sunshine over a long weekend, according to the Highways Agency.
Source: Press Association