UK weather: Reading festival-goers don raincoats as Met Office warns of heavy showers this Bank Holiday weekend
MUSIC fans arrived in droves for Reading Festival donning raincoats and wellies as the Met Office warned of heavy showers this Bank Holiday weekend.
The gloomy weather didn’t deter the early arrivals, with more than 100,000 festival-goers expected at Richfield Avenue this year.
Showers are expected to persist across the far southeast this afternoon but should clear by the evening.
A mixture of sunshine and showers is likely through the weekend, with low-pressure driving much of the UK’s weather.
Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Steven Keates said: “While showers are never too far away through the weekend, there will still be drier spells around and where there are breaks in the cloud on Sunday in the south it should feel quite pleasant.
“Areas to the southeast will see fewer showers with more in the way of bright or sunny spells on Saturday and Sunday, though temperatures are likely to remain around average for the time of year.
“Areas further north and west will see more frequent showers, some of which will be heavy, and will at times extend south into central areas of England and Wales on Saturday and Sunday.
“Monday, which is a Bank Holiday for those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, will probably see band of showery rain clear from eastern England early in the day, with sunny spells and scattered showers following on for most places.
“There are no signals for significant heat in the current forecast period.”
It comes after a yellow weather warning was issued for thunderstorms earlier today.
It stretched across the South coast of England from Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, through Sussex and up to the Kent coast.
Thursday will see highs of 24C in London, 21C in Cardiff, 20C in Birmingham, 19C in Newcastle and 17C in Edinburgh.
Through this evening and overnight, showers will persist in north-western areas of Scotland, some turning heavy.
Light rain is also expected in north-western areas of England but it will be mostly clear for many.
Friday is expected to see widespread patchy cloud and showers across the UK but these will be heavier in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
More thunder could be on the way in these areas on Friday but it will be drier and brighter in the South.
Friday will see highs of 21C in Norwich, 20C in Hull, 19C in Plymouth and 18C in Birmingham.
The end of last year’s festival was tainted by violence, which sparked complaints to police and organisers about security.
Tents were set on fire, 50 people were ejected and over the weekend there were 37 arrests.