Britain could be in for its hottest Easter to date, with peak temperatures over the weekend expected to rival Turkey, the Greek island of Corfu and the south of France.
The Met Office expects Sunday to challenge the previous record of 25.3C, set in 2011, as temperature continue to rise this week, with plenty of warm, dry and sunny weather expected across the UK over the bank holiday weekend.
Chief meteorologist Frank Saunders said: “It’s going to feel warm or very warm across much of the country.
“Temperatures will reach into the low 20s Celsius quite widely and there’s a good chance some places particularly in the south could see temperatures peaking around 24C to 25C.
“With temperatures usually around 12Cto 15C at this time of year, it’s certainly going to be significantly warmer than average this Easter weekend and quite a contrast to the colder weather we’ve seen so far this month.”
But as people head out to make the most of the warmer weather there are warnings of travel disruptions.
Train services will be reduced across the north of England and in parts of Scotland and south Wales while Network Rail carries out £100m of upgrades, with London Euston, the UK’s fifth busiest station, to remain closed until after bank holiday Monday.
The RAC said more than 15 million UK holidaymakers had hit the road so far, with a further 12 million expected to travel over the weekend.
Highways England has cleared 99% of motorways and major A-roads of roadworks, removing more than 450 miles of cones. But the roadside assistance provider Green Flag anticipated the number of breakdowns would rise to more than 155,000, at a rate of about 22 every minute.
Dan Croft, incident group operations manager at the data company INRIX, said: “The average UK driver lost more than 170 hours to congestion last year, and over Easter, journeys could take drivers up to three times longer than usual.”
In Scotland, wildfires burning on the Isle of Bute were affecting a large area of moorland, according to the fire service. The MSP for Argyll and Bute, Michael Russell, tweeted that a fire was “burning fiercely” about 4 miles from his house.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue service told the BBC an appliance had been sent to the scene but returned because it was too dangerous. She said a crew would return at first light on Saturday morning “if required”.
