As the UK prepares to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with a four-day bank holiday weekend, drier and warmer weather is on the way though showers threaten to dampen the festivities in some areas. According to the Met Office, the bank holiday will start off fine and bright for most, with Thursday the best day for people across the whole of the UK to enjoy street parties, barbecues and other outdoor events.
Thursday, when the official programme kicks off with the Trooping the Colour military spectacle in central London, is "looking good", Met Office spokesperson Oli Claydon said. There will be sunny spells and temperatures are set to hit 22 °C in the south. The weather map for Cardiff shows highs of 19°C on Thursday and 20°C on Friday, while in Swansea it is forecast to be 18°C on Thursday and 19°C on Friday.
The Met Office forecast for Wales from Thursday to Saturday says: " Sunny for a while on Thursday, but cloudier later. Showers developing on Friday, then becoming drier on Saturday. Becoming a little warmer by day, though still with some chilly nights."
Read more: The Jubilee street parties in your area of Wales
Here are some more forecasted temperatures:
Cardiff
Thursday - 19°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Friday - 20°C and cloudy
Saturday - 18°C and cloudy with showers
Sunday - 17°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Swansea
Thursday - 18°C and sunny
Friday - 19°C and cloudy
Saturday - 18°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Sunday - 18°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Aberyswtyth
Thursday - 17°C and sunny with cloudy spells
Friday - 18°C and cloudy
Saturday - 18°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Sunday - 16°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Wrexham
Thursday - 19°C and sunny with cloudy spells
Friday - 19°C and cloudy
Saturday - 18°C and cloudy
Sunday - 18°C and cloudy with sunny spells
Mr Claydon says: "If you look at the UK as a whole, Thursday is the better day but if you're further north, the weather is staying brighter and finer and drier more consistently through the weekend."
Friday - when a traditional service of thanksgiving will be held at St Paul's Cathedral - will start dry and bright for the majority of the UK. However, "it's a bit of a mixed picture depending on where you are", with "increasing cloud and then some showers moving into the south-west and also Northern Ireland", Mr Claydon said.
A few showers could spread across the south of the UK throughout the day, while some sunshine is expected in other areas, driving up temperatures to 23 °C. Saturday looks dry, with temperatures in the low 20s and spells of sunshine for much of the country as an area of high pressure moves in.
But a plume of warm air brings a risk of some heavy showers to areas "south of the M4" in England, Mr Claydon said, threatening the Epsom Derby and later the BBC's Party at the Palace open-air concert.
Sunday promises to be dry and bright for many of the millions gathering at more than 85,000 Big Jubilee Lunches up and down the UK. But there is a chance that the warm air edges back in to the south east and brings rain to the Jubilee Pageant parade through the streets of London.
"If you were to look at the northern portion of the UK, it's a fairly decent long weekend, but the uncertainty and the chance of heavy showers in the south is still up for grabs," Mr Claydon said.
The Met Office urged Britons heading outdoors to pack sunglasses and sun cream, as UV levels will be high when the June sun does appear. "For the four days there'll be a lot of dry weather around. Yes, still some showers here and there... but many places will see sunny spells and certainly after a cool start this week it is going to be feeling warmer," Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said.
He said that after the unsettled and unseasonably cool start to the week, with an area of low pressure sitting right over the UK and bringing "an awful lot of showers", "for most of us the weather's going in the right direction" as high pressure takes over.
"There are weather fronts pinching us from the north and the south so it's not straightforward that high pressure will bring a lot of sunny weather, but it is turning drier," Mr Deakin said. "And slowly, it will be turning a little warmer as well."
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