Met Office Bank Holiday weather 'mixed bag' as London to be battered with '18 hours of rain' amid glorious sunshine

As the Bank Holiday fast approaches the Met Office is forecasting a 'mixed bag' as London will see a mix of glorious sunshine and pouring rain. While maximum temperatures will reach 21C on Saturday, later on in the Bank Holiday will see 18 hours of rain hit London throughout Sunday afternoon - though temperatures will remain high throughout.

The weather has been anything but steady in recent weeks with spells of heatwaves contrasted by thunderstorms. The Bank Holiday weekend will be no different with some weather almost perfect for a barbecue before the trusty umbrella will need to be dusted off ready to head out into the wet weather.

MyLondon has compiled an hour-by-hour forecast for the weekend so you know exactly when to make plans and head out to a park to enjoy the sun, instead of getting caught in the rain.

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General forecast for Bank Holiday weekend

In their general round-up of the weekend weather, Met Office wrote: " A typical springtime mix of weather is likely for the UK over the Bank Holiday weekend, with sunshine, showers and some longer spells of rain possible for some.

"The heavy rain seen by some in recent days is now gradually subsiding, though some showers will continue for some in the north of the UK through Friday, including Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"However, later Saturday and into Sunday will see a change once again to the UK’s weather patterns, as Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Mark Sidaway explained: “The Bank Holiday weekend will see some sunny spells and it will feel quite pleasant in the sunshine for many on Saturday in particular.

“Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday will likely see a return to sunshine and showers. Low pressure to the west is likely to push fronts into the UK on Sunday, these tending to break up and turn more showery in nature as they do so. We are likely to see some heavy, possibly thundery showers on both days, but there should still be some dry spells in between, and in any sunshine it will feel pleasantly warm.”

Saturday May 25

Saturday looks to be a good day for London with clear skies overnight and temperatures averaging around 14C inn the early hours. For the early-risers there will be sunny skies with temperatures slowly increasing throughout the morning and not a cloud in the sky.

Through the afternoon, temperatures will rise to a maximum of 21C but will stay in the 20s until around 7/8pm. There's less than 5 per cent chance of rain throughout the whole afternoon - did someone say barbecue weather?

The evening will remain pleasant with clear skies as temperatures drop to a comfortable 17C at 10pm with rain staying away until well-past midnight.

Sunday May 26

Sunday is a different picture - 18 hours of rain are set to batter London starting at the early time of 4am. In the early hours there will be a 50 per cent chance of rain across London which will steadily rise throughout the afternoon, but so will the temperatures.

Reaching a high of 19C the temperatures will remain high despite the deluge of rain. Rain will persist between 4am and 10pm with the peak of precipitation between 1pm and 4pm with 60 per cent chance of showers.

The rain will be nowhere near as heavy as the thunderstorms we have had recently but the wet weather is never a welcome sight, especially on a Bank Holiday.

Monday May 27

Thankfully the wet weather of Sunday has been all but brushed off come Monday morning. Overnight skies are once again clear and it looks to be as promising a day as Saturday for sunshine.

However, the temperatures will not hit the 20s, a respectable 17C will persist throughout the afternoon as clear skies and sun dominate the forecast.

The sunniest part of the day will be in the morning when there is less than 5 per cent chance of rain and temperatures will already be at 12C. Throughout the afternoon, the chance of rain will reach a maximum of 20 per cent but the current Met Office forecast is said to be dry.

What to BBC Weather say?

Very similarly to the Met Office the broad forecast for the Bank Holiday weekend is a mixed bag with sunny intervals and light winds on Saturday. However the BBC have termed the rain on Sunday as 'thundery showers' with a 'gentle breeze'. They have forecast the thnundery showers to hit at around 11am on Sunday and, unlike the Met Office, they are forecasting the rain will have cleared by 8pm - rather than 10pm.

BBC Weather say Monday will see light rain showers and a gentle breeze with rain forecast between 12pm and 7pm - somewhat different to the dry day forecast by Met Office.

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