The sun will be making itself scarce until June

Experts from the Met Office said yesterday the cool and windy weather that has characterised May so far is set to continue until next month.

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The recent weather has been in stark contrast to April which was the warmest and driest month on record.

Britons were spoilt with a top temperature of 78.8F (26C) and in Southampton the average temperature was hotter than the Algarve in Portugal and southern Italy.

Met Office spokesman Barry Gromett said: "It seems as though the two months have been turned around.

"Next week it will still be pretty unsettled and people should keep their umbrellas with them. After that it will hopefully dry out and there may be some sunshine."

So far temperatures have been hovering at a brisk 57F to 59F (14-15C) and the disappointing May weather will continue to move slowly across the country. Last year the average temperature was 62F (17C).

Showers are expected to sweep across the UK over the weekend with heavy cloud and rainfall in Scotland and steady rain across the rest of the UK.

That pattern is expected to continue for the next two weeks with gradual sunny periods amidst the rain in the south and east of England before settled high pressure returns.

However, for people planning their bank holiday weekend break there is still some hope of some sunny weather with temperatures returning to a more summery 66F (19C) average.

Mr Gromett added: "By the end of May the weather should settle down more and the bank holiday weekend shouldn't be a complete wash-out. There could be temperatures approaching 68F (20C) or even higher.

"The suggestion is that the high pressure will extend particularly in the south of the UK and central England."

National weather patterns also predict that June will mark the start of an above average warm and dry summer across the country, with the highest temperatures in the south of England.

The hottest June temperature recorded in 2006 was a sweltering 90F (32.4C) in Central London on 12 June.

Weather experts remarked that the poor May weather is not actually worse than average but that public perception of the weather was tainted by the unseasonably sunny weather last month.

Mr Gromett explained: "It's a sharp contrast to the almost summer-like weather we had before. It gives you the impression we are having summer and going back to spring.

"Overall weather patterns show that once we get into June we will be in for a warm spell."

Recent rainfall may please the nation's gardeners who will see it as welcome relief for their parched plants.

With three weeks to go total rain for May is still below average.