Met Office warns first full week of May will turn cooler across the UK

The first full week of May is turning sharply cooler, ending the brief early-summer feel that followed last week’s warmth. The Met Office said northerly winds would bring colder air across the United Kingdom from Tuesday, with Wednesday to Friday cooler nationwide and showers at times, though lighter and fewer than over the Bank Holiday weekend.

That shift matters because the holiday weekend had already lifted expectations of a mild start to the month. Instead, the national outlook points back to changeable spring conditions, with sunny spells but a distinctly cooler feel in many places. The Met Office’s longer-range forecast for 9 to 18 May said temperatures were likely to be near or below average overall, especially in the north, with an ongoing risk of overnight rural frost.

The national warning was reinforced by regional forecasts that showed how uneven the change would be. In London and South East England, the Met Office said bright or sunny spells would mix with a chance of showers each day from Tuesday to Thursday, before turning cooler with overnight rural grass frost possible in sheltered spots. Yorkshire & Humber faced a similar pattern, with bright or sunny spells, a chance of showers each day and patchy overnight rural frost. North East England was also expected to cool into midweek, with patchy overnight rural frost possible before milder conditions later.

Other parts of the country were not being spared the adjustment. The South West and West Midlands were both forecast to be mostly cloudy and dry, while the broad national picture still left room for showers and sunny spells to alternate through the week. That kind of whiplash is more than a question of comfort. It can briefly lift heating demand after a warm holiday period, complicate commuter routines with cooler, cloudier mornings, and slow the work of gardeners and farmers who are watching for frost in sheltered rural spots.

The Met Office has warned before that May can swing hard in both directions. Its 2025 Bank Holiday coverage said above-average temperatures after a warm May Day would subside, and its spring summary for 2021 showed that May had produced some of the UK’s lowest average maximum temperatures before a late-month warm spell changed the picture. The pattern now unfolding fits that history: a month that can still flip quickly between warmth and cold, and a forecast that suggests the first full week of May will feel more like spring than summer, with the north most exposed and frost still a live risk.