Britons who basked in gorgeous sunny weather and highs of 25C over Easter could be forgiven for thinking spring had deserted us with gloomy skies and showers prevailing once again. But despite predictions of a bitterly cold weekend ahead, weather forecasters are remaining beat about another heatwave. Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze, has said highs of up to 28C could arrive this month due to warm air from Spain. He said: “28C would not be a surprise later in May, with warm air expected to arrive from southern Europe, known as a ‘Spanish plume’.”

The Met Office’s long-range weather forecast is also predicting above-average temperatures towards the end of the month.

The forecast between May 16 and 30 reads: “There is a chance of some changeable conditions at first, but by the middle of the month there are indications that more settled weather could start to develop.”

What about early May bank holiday weekend?

Britons have been warned to prepare for an impending Arctic blast from Friday, causing temperatures to plummet to -1C on Saturday night.

Met Office meteorologist Aiden McGivern warned of “really quite cold air” coming our way late on Thursday followed by “showery” weather in a studio chat with meteorologist Clare Nasir.

Pointing to a weather map showing a block of deep blue colours headed towards the UK, he said: “It is going to feel cold with that air, the source region is the arctic up near northern Norway and it’s plunging south.”

He added: “So what does that mean for our weather? The next few days it’s showery and there are some heavy showers around, particularly on Thursday and then on Friday that is the transition day.

“These colours, these are roughly the temperature, that is how it’s going to feel.”

The weather presenter said high pressure over Iceland will be dragged downwards but the UK will sit on the eastern side of this leaving it exposed to “motherly winds”, making conditions particularly cold in Scotland and Eastern England.

He added: “Now, how cold? Well cold actually for some of the white stuff, we’re really talking the far north of Scotland.”

The meteorologist said sleet could hit Scotland plus hail showers in eastern and northern Britain, although sunshine would prevail in the west.

He predicted the coldest conditions would strike on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Freezing lows of -1C are forecast for Northern Ireland, with 0C to 3C widely elsewhere.

Mr McGivern said the temperatures were “not good for gardeners, so protect your tender plants”.

Temperatures on Saturday may only reach highs of 8 or 9C while, with slightly milder temperatures of 10-12C in the south of the UK.

The UK meteorological summer starts on June 1, 2019, while the astronomical begins on June 21 so Britons will be keeping every crossed for a heatwave before then.

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