Edinburgh is the hottest place in Scotland - and there's more sun to come

David Bowes and Beth Stanners enjoy an ice cream on Portobello beach in the sunshine with Buffy the dog

The May Day heatwave comes after Edinburgh basked in temperatures of 22.3C on Sunday making it the hottest place in Scotland.

It’s going to be even hotter south of the border where temperatures could hit 28C, making it the hottest Bank Holiday Monday in 40 years.

The May Bank Holiday was introduced in 1978 and the temperature has never topped the 28C mark since then.

The weather is set to become mixed as the month progresses, and the May 19 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle draws near.

Met Office forecaster Charlie Powell said: “It looks like we should be prepared for some pretty changeable weather throughout the second half of May.

“We’re still going to see some dry days, but there’s still going to be some wet days mixed in as well.”

Referring to the day of the eagerly anticipated wedding, Mr Powell added: “We’ve got this idea that there could be some warmer spells, most likely across the south and east of England, so at least that bodes well for wedding locations and things like that.”

He said temperatures will generally be above normal, but this will depend on whether it is a sunny day or a sunny wetter day.

“So it doesn’t look like it’s going to carry on in a similar kind of vein to high pressure in charge, sunshine, light winds, high temperatures, that we have now.

“Neither does it look like it’s going to be a complete washout, horrible end to the month of May.

“But I think we can expect things to be not as warm as they are now, but also not as dry as they are now,” he said.

Mr Powell added: “Fingers crossed it all kind of ties in with one of the drier days.”

Looking at temperatures for Bank Holiday Monday, the forecaster said the highs of 28C were not going to be widespread.

“That’s going to be the exception rather than the rule. I think for most places, if you take the bulk of England and Wales for example, we’re looking at somewhere around the low to mid 20s mark,” he said.

Meanwhile, Southern Rail advised passengers for Brighton and the South Coast not to travel on Sunday due to overcrowding.

Replacement buses were also provided due to engineering works, and at one point National Rail said there was a two-hour wait to board a bus at Gatwick Airport.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Passengers will rightly be frustrated to find they can’t travel on the bank holiday weekend.

“These works and the weather were no surprise - so why has Southern failed to provide enough rail replacement buses?”