Thursday could be hottest day of the year so far – with warm Bank Holiday weekend forecast

Thursday looks set to be the hottest day of the year so far with the warm, sunny weather expected to continue over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Temperatures could be as high as 25C on Thursday in the east of Wales and the West Midlands area of England, topping this year’s previous high of 23C, the Met Office said.

An onshore breeze will keep temperatures in the south east of England cooler, but dry, bright weather is still expected across the area and most of the country for the rest of the week.

Temperatures of around 18C are expected in the daytime in much of Scotland, with even the Shetland islands expected to stay relatively warm at around 11 or 12C, although overnight temperatures could still be in single figures on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The warm, sunny weather is expected to continue throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. A Met Office spokesperson said that high pressure is likely to bring about settled and warm conditions through to Monday.

African Plume

However, forecasters said that no “African plume” heatwave is expected any time soon, after it was reported that scorching temperatures were expected across the country before the end of May.

For warm weather to be classed as a heatwave, it has to persist for at least three days and be much hotter than expected for the time of year.

A Met Office spokesperson said that while temperatures are heating up, they are not outside of what is expected for early summer.

An area of high pressure to the west of the UK is driving the warm and sunny conditions, he said.

Temperatures hit their highest for the year so far on Sunday, with parts of north Wales seeing highs of 23C and most of Wales and England staying above 20C.