May bank holiday weather forecast: Temperatures to drop as low as -2C as frosts and wintry showers predicted

Heavy showers with hail, frosts and breezy conditions make marked contrast with sun-soaked Easter two weeks ago

The UK will be hit with cold weather and wintry showers across the May bank holiday weekend, just weeks after record high temperatures at Easter.

Temperatures will be much colder than the last bank holiday, Met Office forecaster Richard Miles told The Independent, as cold weather from the north will bring heavy showers with hail, frosts and breezy conditions to many places in the UK.

“Daytime temperatures will be in the very low double figures, between 11 and 13 degrees, although it will feel colder in areas with a breeze,” he said.

“Overnight, there will be between two and four degrees and frosts in many places of the UK for the next four to five days.”

Temperatures could get as low as -2C in sheltered, hilly areas with a clear sky.

The lowest temperature ever recorded on the early May bank holiday was -6.4C in Grantown-on-Spey in Scotland in 1981, and in Kinbrace in Scotland in 1988.

Saturday will be the wettest day of the Bank Holiday weekend, with chilly showers and possible hail, especially on the east coast.

“Some of the showers will be heavy, and some will bring hail,” Mr Miles said.

But most of the west, including Wales, the south west and Northern Ireland, should manage to stay dry the majority of the weekend.

Temperatures will be slightly warmer on Sunday, with dry spells after a frosty evening.

Easter Monday was the warmest on record for all four UK nations, with temperatures higher than 20C, but this bank holiday could see them fall as low as -2C in northern Scotland on Saturday evening, with heavy showers and hail across the east coast of England.

It will also be much colder than the same time last year, when temperatures hit 28.7C at Northolt, west London, making it the hottest early May bank holiday Monday and weekend since records began.