Sunshine to return in time for Bank Holiday

There are early signs much of the UK will see an improvement in weather over the bank holiday weekend and this will last through much of next week, according to the Met Office.

Whilst rain and showers are likely across much of the country on Saturday and at first on Sunday, there are signs of an improvement from the west as we go through Sunday and Monday.

The change in the weather is being driven by the jet stream which is slowly moving south east whilst weakening significantly.

The presence of the strong jet across the UK at the beginning of the weekend brings unsettled weather to much of the UK, but the absence of it by late Monday allows high pressure and more settled weather to move in.

It looks like high pressure will approach the UK from the west over the weekend, bringing more in the way of drier, sunnier weather to many by Bank Holiday Monday, especially in the west.

There are then signs the high pressure will continue to dominate the UK's weather through much of next week, bringing a few days of sunshine for much of the country.

Deputy Meteorologist Laura Paterson said: "When high pressure does approach from the west it is accompanied by winds from the north, which means what whilst we are expecting sunshine, temperatures are likely to be a bit cooler than average, particularly at night, with chilly evenings and locally overnight frosts possible."

Malcolm Bell, Chief Executive of Visit Cornwall, said: "Settled weather for the last few days of the school holidays is very welcome news. Of course we would have hoped for more dry and fine weather but we have had some glorious days of sunshine between the clouds and with lots of wet weather options, Cornwall is well placed to ride the rain. Sunnier conditions to close August will offer positivity for September when Cornwall is still busy and welcoming visitors."

Rick Turner who runs The BIG Sheep and Atlantis Adventure Park attractions in Devon said: " I am delighted that the forecast is picking up for the coming bank holiday weekend and last week of the school holidays, this will make a huge difference to last minute bookings at this critical time. I think we are all looking at the Met Office forecasts and I know that they have been working hard on improving the reliability of their week out forecasts, so lets hope for some good sunshine to encourage a bumper weekend.

"This summer has been pretty mixed but the last week is looking much better. The visitor numbers have been excellent over the holidays and the all weather attractions are obviously very busy when the weather is not great, but as long as we get some days on the beach as part of the holiday mix our visitors still greatly enjoy the South West holiday experience."

The Bank Holiday weekend also coincides with some of the largest astronomical UK tides for the past 20 years. However, as well as bringing some sunshine, the high pressure will also help to minimise any impacts from the high tides and we are expecting no real impacts.