Dry and ‘pleasant’ Easter Sunday forecast for much of UK
A dry and “pleasant” Easter Sunday for much of the UK will be followed by rain, the Met Office has forecast.
The weather service said most of the country would see “some warm spells of sunshine” on Easter Sunday, although a scattering of showers was likely across southern England and south Wales.
Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said weather over the Easter weekend would bring “mixed fortunes”.
Mr Snell added: “For Easter day itself, it should be fairly fine and dry, but as we move into Monday, we see the return of rain for most of us.
“But for Saturday into the early hours of Easter day, we still have some rain actually around for western Scotland and Northern Ireland, but also a fairly quiet night.
“The best of the sunshine will be for eastern Scotland, down into Northern England and also parts of Wales.
“In the sunshine feeling pleasant enough, we could see highs reaching 16C to 18C, but still feeling quite chilly along the North Sea coast with an onshore flow here, so temperatures struggling here around 10C to 12C.”
A band of showery rain will move eastwards across the UK through Easter Monday, followed by heavy showers, the Met Office said.
Mr Snell said there could be a “bit of a frost in the far north” on the morning of Easter Monday.
The meteorologist added: “Easter Monday itself really is going to be a fairly grey day for most. There will be some breaks in the cloud from time to time, but really we’re just watching this area of rain gradually spread its way eastwards across the UK.”
The Met Office said there would be some sunny spells ahead of the rain in the far east, with the driest areas across north-east Scotland.
Tourism authority VisitEngland estimates that around 10.6 million British adults are planning to take a holiday in the UK over the bank holiday period.
Train passengers were warned about disruption as Network Rail undertakes engineering work over the Easter weekend.
The Government-owned company said it will carry out work on more than 300 projects across Britain between Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday, causing a number of lines to be closed.
The most significant impact will be at London Euston – the UK’s 10th busiest railway station – which will have no services to or from Milton Keynes on Saturday and Easter Sunday, and a reduced timetable on Good Friday and Monday.
That is because of work including renewals of overhead electric lines and drainage improvements.
Meanwhile, travel trade organisation Abta said approximately 2.2 million Britons will head overseas during the long weekend, with Good Friday being the busiest day for travel.
