The Met Office has issued its latest Platinum Jubilee forecast – and it’s not looking so great, with the threat of showers as the UK prepares to celebrate the Queen’s record-breaking 70-year reign.
The four-day bank holiday weekend will get off to a bright start and warmer conditions before it turns cooler and more unsettled.
Thursday will be dry and mostly sunny for southern areas – when the Queen is expected to delight the crowds with an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to mark the start of the celebrations after Trooping the Colour. However, northern areas will see spells of showery rain.
Friday – for when a service of thanksgiving is planned at St Paul’s Cathedral – is expected to start “fine and dry for many places” with some warm, sunny spells, but “some morning showers are likely too”, according to the Met Office.
It is predicting sunny blue skies and dry weather on Saturday with temperatures hitting 20C (68F), which will be good news for those heading to the Epsom Derby race and later the BBC’s Platinum Party at the palace open-air concert.
On Sunday, thousands of people will gather across the country as more than 85,000 Big Jubilee Lunches and street parties are staged.
But those picnicking and taking part in the spectacular Pageant parade through central London on Sunday could face more unsettled weather, with a cloudier, chillier day and some risk of showers.
The Met Office said that while there is still “plenty of detail to work out”, forecasters will be monitoring the path of a plume of warm air from over the continent as the weekend draws closer.
It could bring heavy showers that may, however, be supplanted by drier weather and “rather warm” temperatures as a high pressure system moves in.
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Jubilee: What do we know?
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Chris Bulmer said: “More unsettled conditions will be quite widely established by Monday.
“After a cool start to the week, temperatures are expected to return back to around average through the week. What we’re keeping an eye on for the latter part of the week is how far north this plume of warm air comes. This brings the potential for outbreaks of heavy rain in places.
“There’s still a lot to be determined for the Jubilee weekend forecast. On balance, it looks like after a showery start, though still fine in places, high pressure will attempt to build from the west bringing more settled and drier weather, at least for some.”
