Monday 26/05/03 to Tuesday 27/05/03
Contrary to expectation, Bank Holiday Monday will be fine with plenty of sunshine across much of England and Wales. A ridge of high pressure building from the south-west will be responsible, but its influence will not extend across the whole country. Scotland and Northern Ireland will have bright spells, but also a good deal of cloud with showery light rain in the afternoon. At the same time cloud will increase across Ireland and the south-west. Mild for most, warm in the south. Overnight into Tuesday, cloud will continue to spread through western parts on strengthening south-west winds. Rain will push across much of Ireland into Scotland, drizzly around western mainland coasts of the UK also. Central, southern and eastern England will remain dry and sunny, and will become warm in the afternoon. The rain across Northern Ireland and western Scotland will become heavy during the evening and overnight.

Wednesday 28/05/03 to Thursday 29/05/03
A west-east split on Wednesday, with strong southerly winds across much of Ireland, Northern Ireland and western Scotland bringing a good deal of cloud and showery rain. This will nudge slowly northwards however, becoming confined to Scotland by the end of the day. For the rest of the country, high pressure becoming established, meaning sunshine from the word go. Some southern regions may see unbroken sunshine for much of the day, where it will becoming very warm with highs in the mid twenties celsius. Thursday will see similar conditions, if anything a little warmer as winds fall light. Western and northern parts will finally join in the summery conditions, with temperatures reaching the high teens to low twenties. Northern Scotland may see a shower or two break out over the mountains during the afternoon however.

Friday 30/05/03 to Sunday 01/06/03
A promising start to the weekend, as high pressure dominates. Wall to wall sunshine for many, with temperatures reaching into the high twenties celsius in central England, low twenties in the north and west. The Northern Isles may be plagued by a little more cloud, but sunny spells at times even here. Winds will be light to calm, although an easterly developing in the south-east later. Difficulties present themselves in the forecast from Saturday, as a number of scenarios may occur. Most places will have another warm, sunny day, but fronts will bring cloud and rain into Ireland later in the day. Showers may also break out over Scotland in the afternoon, and at the same time one or two thundery showers may drift into the south-east of England. Sunday is also uncertain, but cloud and light rain looks set to cross many northern and western parts, with sunshine in the south only acting to trigger a few sharp showers. More detail in the next update.