Bank holiday weather: Temperatures drop as low as -4 on freezing start to May bank holiday

Brits woke to a chilly bank holiday Monday with the weather only tipped to hit 14 or 15C in the south
PA
Asher McShane6 May 2019

Brits awoke to one of the chilliest ever starts to an early May bank holiday with widespread freezing temperatures overnight.

The mercury dipped as low as minus 4.3C (24F) as icy Arctic air flowed southwards, leaving northern areas with patches of frost and some sleet over high ground in Scotland.

The minimum was recorded at Katesbridge in Co Down, while a low of minus 2.4C (27.7F) was seen at Shap in Cumbria, minus 1.7C (29F) in Sennybridge, Brecknockshire, and minus 1C (30F) at Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands.

The lowest recorded temperature for the early May bank holiday Monday was minus 5.9C (21.4F) on May 7 2012 at Kinbrace in Sutherland.

There was no repeat of the Easter holiday's sunshine
PA Archive/PA Images

Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said: "We're stuck between high pressure to the west of us and low pressure to the east, which is giving us northerly winds - it's drawing air straight down from the Arctic."

Temperatures are expected to remain on the chilly side, peaking at 14C (57.2F) or 15C (59F) in the south on Monday afternoon, although northern parts will struggle to see double digits as a band of rain pushes towards the south and east.

"It's going to be fairly chilly during the day, below average for the time of year, but it's not going to be too bad and the wind's going to be light," Mr Partridge said.

"It will be generally dry, although there is a band of showery rain that's going to slowly move its way from Scotland southwards through parts of Northern Ireland and northern England then eventually into parts of East Anglia.

"That will make it feel a bit cooler through there, but either side of it will generally be dry and bright with sunny spells.

"It will stay mostly dry in the south, where it will be warmest, so Wales and much of southern England will be fine."

Reporting by PA

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT