UK weather: Easter bank holiday weekend looking unsettled with London facing rain

The Met Office predicts that the holiday weekend will see lower than average temperatures
Seasonal Weather, Wimbledon Common, London, United Kingdom - 18 Mar 2023
A watterlogged pathway in Wimbledon Common
Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock
Jordan King21 March 2024

This year’s Easter bank holiday weekend is looking unsettled with bouts of rain, cloud and wind.

Forecasters are warning that temperatures will likely drop over the next few days, after mild weather across the country in the last week.

The Met Office predicts that the holiday weekend will see a maximum average of 9.2C - a far cry from the 18.8C recorded in Surrey on Wednesday.

It says there will be “spells of rain or showers for most, if not all, areas” in the UK, especially in London and the South East of England.

There is a possibility of strong winds, with temperatures likely to dive “a little below normal for late March”.

For those looking to make plans for the long weekend, Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon advised them to keep an eye on the forecast.

He said: "The crucial thing is just to keep up to date with the forecast. This far ahead, the forecast will change as certainty increases."

Seasonal Weather, Wimbledon, London, UK - 13 Mar 2021
The Met Office has warned about the possibility of strong winds
Amer Ghazzal/REX

The current weather predictions are "pretty typical" for this time of year, he added.

The expected rainy Easter bank holiday is set to follow an especially wet winter but the warmest February on record for England and Wales.

Many will be planning trips around the country over the Easter holiday, which has been hit with train strikes announced by Aslef on Wednesday.

Tube drivers are to walk out over two days - for April 8 and May 4 - and train drivers at 16 train companies will also be taking “rolling one-day strikes” from April 5 to 8.

The train companies affected by the national strikes are Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains and CrossCountry on Friday, April 5.

Meanwhile, Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, and TransPennine Trains will be hit on Saturday, April 6.

On Monday, April 8, drivers at c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway will walk out.

Members will also refuse to work overtime from April 4 to 6, and April 8 to 9.

This new Aslef strike comes two-and-a-half months after Sadiq Khan decided to use £30m of taxpayers’ cash to avert a week of walk-outs by union RMT, which represents about 10,000 Tube staff. Unsettled weather remains likely to continue into the week after Easter, the Met Office said.

Despite the potentially damp weather, the UK can look forward to more daylight in the evenings after the clocks go forward one hour at 1am on Easter Sunday, March 31.

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