UK Weather – Britain set for coldest August Bank Holiday Monday ever after weekend washout

BRITS are set for the coldest August Bank Holiday Monday on record with frost following a weekend washout.

Temperatures are set to reach 19C in London while parts of Scotland will be chillier with highs of 11C.

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This is well below the average of 16C usually seen in the country.

And it’s a far cry from last year’s August Bank Holiday Monday which was the hottest on record, with 33.2C recorded at Heathrow.

It will get particularly chilly in Scotland with temperatures potentially plunging overnight.

A Met Office forecaster said: “A cool northerly flow means increasingly chilly nights. Frost is possible for rural areas in Scotland.”

Today more rainfall is forecast to continue in parts of West Wales, Northern Ireland and coastal Scotland, and perhaps some more persistent rain for east England.

Meteorologist Gregory Dewhurst said: “The start of the weekend, we are looking at a largely fine day for many but we’ll see showers in the east and west cost of the UK, while inland is more likely to be dry, but much better than what we have seen recently.”

The Met Office said it will be drier and sunnier on Sunday, while it will be noticeably cooler, particularly overnight.

“Sunday will be a dry day across most of the UK, the wind will be lighter,” Mr Dewhurst added.

The recent wet and windy weather is a contrast to what was seen earlier this month, when the UK sweltered on the hottest August day in 17 years on August 7 when temperatures soared to 36C.

“Temperatures over the last few weeks, especially at the beginning of August, were very high,” Mr Dewhurst said.

“We haven’t seen temperatures this cool for quite a while.”

Millions of leisure trips are expected to clog up the UK’s roads as rain and gale-force winds hit the country this weekend.

The RAC said 18 million car journeys would be taken this weekend as families enjoy last minute staycations and day-trips before schools return.

The Bank Holiday weekend also kicked off with power cuts after the Met Office warned of thunderstorms.

Ahead of the holiday, Plymouth City Council has been grappling with a “biblical” downpour which saw around three feet of water flooding some areas, leaving main roads underwater

It advised people to prepare for possible flooding in their homes by moving possessions and valuables off the ground and to not walk or drive through fast-moving water, as it warned the areas around Ruswarp Pleasure Boats are most at risk.

The warning comes as residents from 14 homes had to be rescued by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in Pyothall Court in Broxburn, West Lothian, due to “significant flooding” caused by heavy rain on Thursday evening.

Jean Hendrie, 70, of Pyothall Court, who had to leave her home, told the PA news agency: “One of my neighbours was flooded and the water came right up to her kitchen worktops, and there are cars that are written off.”

Motorists are facing disruption as torrential rain has been causing delays on major roads including the M1, M5 and M11, according to traffic data by the AA.