Meanwhile on Earth: Summer heads back... but it’ll rain by the bank holiday

BRITAIN is facing a rotten bank holiday next weekend – with wind and rain hitting parts of the country.

But sunny spells will lift the school holiday mood first over the next couple of days.

The warm conditions come from tropical air which has been dragged north-eastwards from the Caribbean by the remnants of Hurricane Gert, which brought 90mph winds to the western Atlantic.

But people should enjoy warm temperatures – reaching 27C (81F) – while they last.

Craig Snell, a forecaster for the Meteorological Office, said: ‘There is a lot of uncertainty still for the bank holiday weekend but current predictions are for a changeable pic- ture with sunshine and showers, or longer spells of rain and temperatures in the high teens or low 20s Celsius.’ Over the coming days, however, he said southern England will have largely dry and bright spells.

This morning, a weather front is due to move out of the way after crossing the country overnight, bringing cloud and rain.

Mr Snell said: ‘There will be breaks in the cloud and temperatures could rise to 24C or 25C (75-77F). There will also be an increasingly humid feeling in wider areas which remain under cloud.’

Tomorrow is due to be fairly cloudy with some spots of rain in north Wales and northern England but also sunshine in more areas with the highest temperatures of up to 27C (81F) in the South – warmer than Mexico City, which is likely to be 25C (77F).

‘Sunshine should hopefully be widespread across southern England on Wednesday but showers will move across northern areas, some of which could be heavy,’ he added.

The showers will bring cooler air, setting the scene in the run-up to the weekend with a return to a mixture of sunshine and showers and an outside chance of gales in northern and western areas. Parts of southern England have had the coldest August 1 to 13 in 30 years, the Met Office said.