UK weather: Five-day heatwave set to arrive for Bank Holiday Weekend

Weather charts predict that next weekend's Bank Holiday should be a scorcher - with a 400-mile mini "heatwave" set to hit large swathes of the UK, and experts not ruling out temperatures topping 30C in some of the hottest areas.

A sizzling burst of early summer is set to sweep across the country, as expected high pressure turns weather charts pink and even red - just days after many areas basked in glorious temperatures surpassing 24C, for at least four days straight.

Before May is over, southern areas including London, Brighton, Canterbury in Kent, and Crawley in West Sussex, are likely to see temperatures peaking into the mid-twenties, for a string of consecutive days from May 25 to 29, reports the Mirror.

Indeed, the likelihood of high pressure reaches its peak on Saturday, May 25, with a 61 per cent chance - making this the day with the best chance for sunny weather, meteorologists reckon. However, the chances are also good on the surrounding days, as per the data - meaning Brits could be in for a baking Bank Holiday weekend.

This fierce, five-day taste of summer isn't confined to the south either, as even up north temperatures are predicted to balloon into the twenties. Scotland and other regions up North East and North West will see the mercury surpassing the 20C mark.

However, the Met Office has made it clear that it "can't promise anything", with meteorologist Alex Deakin saying in the service's Deep Dive video: "There is not a strong signal, and that is often the case for this time of year, because it is May, because there is not a lot of contrast between the North Pole and the Equator, there is not a lot of power in the jetstream.

"There are hints... hints of high pressure. There are some signs of high pressure but it is far from nailed on. It is weak, it is just slightly more chance than not of high pressure... There has been a bit of chatter about high pressure returning. We can't really talk about that at this stage. There are a few signals at the moment, but pretty weak signals."

Further to this, a 10-day forecast synopsis on the Met Office website reads: "Overall though, one way or another, it looks like remaining fairly unsettled across much of the UK, with further rain, showers or even thunderstorms in places, though there will be some sunshine between times, the best of this possibly in southwestern parts."

Further expanding on the conditions, it adds: "Both rainfall amounts and temperatures are likely to be a little above average, but some large spatial differences are likely."

James Madden, expert weatherman at Exacta Weather also chimed in regarding the upcoming hot phase due next week. He said: "Some of the main third-party computer models are now becoming more popular in recognition of the high pressure that rises across our shores throughout next week."

Speaking to Birmingham Live, the weather expert added: "This is now likely to bring at least another several days of warm to hot conditions and could initially see temperatures rising into the mid to high 20s quite widely, and 30C or more can't be entirely ruled out in the hottest spots and for the first time this year.

"Additionally, there are also some very extreme runs for heat coming through for this final third of this month and into early June, and this particular period and weather scenario for a heatwave is something we have been covering for these exact dates over the past several months in our spring forecast and over the past several weeks in our summer forecast for around early June."

The expert concluded: "We should be in full recognition of these high pressure rises across the UK and Ireland with some good cross-model agreement on this, which looks to be perfectly primed for arrival during next week and in time for the spring Bank Holiday weekend and to begin the meteorological summer and June at present."