A band of rain from the West is expected to hit the UK, bringing blustery and unsettled weather after a sunny Easter weekend.
The Met Office has warned that Easter Monday will bring an abrupt end to the warm spell, with gales possibly following in some places later next week.
Prediction is that the temperature would exceed this year’s record of 17.8ºC, but it fell just half a degree short. Despite this, the UK remained hotter than Rome, which reached 16ºC, for a second day in a row.
The band of rain will drift across the Irish Sea and bring blustery showers to the West coast on Sunday evening. It will move to much of the UK on Monday, with a risk of hail and thunderstorms in some areas.
However, many areas are likely to experience sunny spells, interrupting the wet weather.
The temperatures are unlikely to climb above 15ºC on Monday and will be even cooler on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an expected maximum of 13ºC.
Yellow wind warning
The Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning for several areas across the UK, including the south-west, Wales, the Lake District, the east coast of Northern Ireland, and Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. The warning will be in effect from 3pm on Tuesday until 6am on Wednesday.
Gusts could exceed 95kph. The warning will remain in place in the south-west and parts of South Wales until midnight on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, “we do have quite a deep area of low pressure moving in bringing further rain in from the south-west”, Met Office meteorologist Honor Criswick said. “We could see some heavy downpours.”
Ms Criswick said winds would begin to decrease on Thursday.
The sudden change in weather comes after people flocked to parks, beaches and beauty spots over the Easter weekend to soak up the sun.