=Britain basks in balmy temperatures of 73F as bank holidays approach – before autumn sets in

Britons will be basking in pleasant sunshine today with highs of 73.4F (23C) as the weather continues before summer officially ends and the rain starts on Friday.

Dry weather continues today with cloudy patches across the country as people soak up the last of the holiday sunshine.

Today will be mostly dry with some warm, sunny spells in the south, with a high of 23C near Bristol and Cardiff.

Coastal areas in the east of the country will be cooler with temperatures between 17 and 15 °C.

There should be little rain on Bank Holiday Monday as a high pressure system continues to dominate the country’s weather, keeping it warm and “settled”.

Possible light rain spots in N England this morning will cease, although there may continue to be drizzle in the North East of the UK. Even a brief shower may cover Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst told MailOnline that the biggest change is expected at the end of the week as the country enters meteorological autumn. The rain will move in from the Atlantic and bring wet weather to Northern Ireland and Scotland first, before persisting in the north of the UK on Friday.

This will include some “stronger outbreaks” and “prolonged periods of rain” before spreading across the country by Saturday and Sunday.

While it was a “season record high” with a high of 104F (40C), the country is now moving into its next phase, Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud explained.

“We’re now heading towards the end of the meteorological summer, but we’re doing it on a pretty warm and quiet note,” he said.

“Monday morning is a good and bright start for many of us, especially in the West. further east we see some pushing west from the North Sea and this cloud is dense enough to cause some outbreaks of light rain and some drizzle.

“Now that most of the sun is in the west, that’s where we’re most likely to see the highest temperatures on Monday – so it’s feeling nice and warm there.

“Where we see this denser cloud in the east, the temperatures are dropping slightly from recent values. Monday evening remains dry but cloudy, again with some clear spells in the west and south.’

The Met Office has also warned of strong winds along the south coast today, between 15 and 20mph, with some local gusts of up to 35mph.

Mrs Stroud added: ‘Stable conditions will continue on Tuesday and high pressure will continue to dominate the weather over the next few days.

“While this high pressure cell is fairly weak, it is likely that we will see some clouds and some rain at times in the forecast, but that rain will be light for the most part.”

There may be some early rain and low cloud in the northeast, with isolated showers possible in the afternoon to the north. It will be warmest in the southwest and coldest in the northeast.

Mr Stroud added: “Looking a little further towards the weekend, there are indications that the weather could become more unsettled from Friday, from the north and west, with rain for many of us.”

It will be colder nights in the north of the country, some stronger showers are possible across the country until Friday. Coastal areas to the south and east will be the coldest, while central areas will be more protected from onshore winds.

Holidaymakers flocked to Britain’s beaches in the sun yesterday as the bank holidays continued to bring good weather before schools return in early September.

Temperatures remained in the low 20s, with highs of 77 F (25 C) in parts London and the west of the country, including Liverpool and Bristol.

Warm temperatures will continue into the week before unsettled weather moves in from the west towards the end of the week.

Tens of thousands of festival-goers were greeted by dry conditions yesterday at London’s Notting Hill Carnival, and today’s dry conditions continue into the second day of the carnival.

A spokesman for the Met Office told MailOnline: ‘There is a bit of a south-west to north-east split on Bank Holiday Monday. It will be cloudier in general, but the most sunshine will be seen in western areas such as Wales.

“It will be cloudier towards the north-east with a greater risk of showers, particularly in the north-east of England.

“Temperatures will be a bit cooler in the north under cloud, we’re looking in the low 20s.”

Between Wednesday and Sunday, festivals in Reading and Leeds drew tens of thousands of revelers, headlined by rapper Dave and the Arctic Monkeys.

Festival goer Rod Leith, 65, said he had noticed an improvement in the weather at Reading Festival in recent years.

He said: “I’ve been coming here since 1976. The festival is bigger now and the music has become more diverse, but other than that it’s pretty much the same as it’s always been. There are more stages than there were, and the weather seems much better these days.”