Coronation Day is here and festivities are already off to a damp start thanks to showers that moved through London on Friday, with even more rain expected for the big day.
“A further area of rain is expected to move into southwest England early on Saturday, moving east and north through the day with some heavy bursts at times. This is likely to bring some rain to London by around lunchtime,” said UK Met Office deputy chief forecaster, Steven Keates.
One bit of good news: Temperatures will be at or slightly above normal for early May.
The high temperature for Saturday in London is forecast to be between 16-18°C (60-64°F) which would put this at one of the warmest coronation days in more than 120 years. For the coronation of George V temperatures reached 17°C (63°F) back on June 22, 1911.
“Under the cloud and rain, temperatures will be subdued with 16 °C in London, whilst 20 °C is likely in sunnier northwest Scotland,” said Met Office Chief Meteorologist Matthew Lehnert.
Unfortunately, it’s also possible this could be one of the soggiest coronations in more than a century. For the coronation of George VI, zero sunshine hours were reported on May 12, 1937 along with 8 millimeters (0.32 inches) of rain.
While it is not forecast to be a complete washout for Charles’ coronation on Saturday, the highest rain chances do happen to coincide with several outdoor scheduled activities.
Rain chances will start off low in the morning, but are expected to peak midday, while the King and Queen Consort are in Westminster Abbey, as well as when they are heading to the Buckingham Palace, showers are likely to salute them the entire way.
With celebrations continuing through the Bank Holiday, Sunday will likely be drier across many regions, but still some low end rain chances with cloudy skies. On Monday, heavy rain, and possibly a few thunderstorms return across parts of central, eastern and southern England, with parts of northeast England and Scotland looking gloomy and wet as well.
“Eastern areas will start out mostly dry on Monday but a band of rain in the west will sweep eastwards throughout the day bringing rain to many places,” the UK Met office said in their forecast. “This rain will be followed by sunshine and scattered showers. Winds are expected to be fresh to strong with temperatures near average.”
CNN’s Taylor Ward contributed to this post.
