Monday is also set to be the coldest May 6 since records began 178 years ago, according to forecasters.

Bank Holiday Monday will verge on the coldest ever with beaches empty two weeks after being jammed in 25C Easter heat.

Snow flurries threatened high ground in Wales and the north today, with 6C highs in parts of the north-east feeling close to 0C in windchill.

Britain is colder than Moscow, which is due 20C tomorrow and seeing 11C at night.

“-5C could be seen on Sunday morning”

Steven Keates

Frosts will be widespread and the Met Office forecast tomorrow to see -5C – pushing closer to -6C Monday morning. 

Monday will be the coldest May 6 since records began 178 years ago in 1841 if it is colder than the -5.6C in 1980 at Camps Reservoir, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

It will be the coldest early May Bank Holiday weather since the holiday began 41 years ago in 1978 if it is colder than the -5.9C record set on May 7, 2012, at Kinbrace, Sutherland, Scotland.

Monday could also be the coldest ever early May Bank Holiday day.

The day’s coldest UK peak temperature is 14.5C in 1982, BBC weatherman Simon King said.

Britain is 15C colder than a year ago, when the early May Bank Holiday saw a record 28.7C at Northolt, London.

Sunday and Monday will be mainly dry – but 50mph gales in the South and deluges for most follow from Wednesday.

Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said: “Cold air from well north of the Arctic Circle, not too far from the Pole, is flooding to the UK and a good part of Europe as far south as Italy.

“-5C could be seen on Sunday morning in the north-west, and slightly lower is quite possible on Monday morning in the west.

“Beating the -5.9C early May Bank Holiday Monday UK minimum temperature record can’t be ruled out.

“Windchill made Saturday feel not much more than freezing in the north-east, with maximum temperatures of 14C or 15C at best until after Monday.

“Frosts will be widespread, and Saturday had snow likely on Scottish mountains and possible on higher parts of the Pennines and north Wales. Sunday and Monday will be drier, but with cloud and some bright spells.

“It’s a massive contrast to last year’s record early May Bank Holiday highs.

“And it turns much more unsettled from Wednesday with the risk of gales and 40-50mph gusts in the South and showers or longer spells of rain.”

The Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze said: “Bank Holiday weekend BBQs are on ice as date temperature records are challenged.

“A polar plunge is bringing one of the coldest early May Bank Holiday weekends the UK has ever had.”

• Met Office
• UK weather
• Weather forecast

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