Scots continued to flock to parks and beaches on the bank holiday weekend, as forecasters reported record-breaking temperatures for the UK.

The Met Office said that it was hottest early May Bank Holiday weekend on record, with the mercury rising to 28.7C (83.7F) in Northolt, west London.

Introduced in 1978, the early May bank holiday temperature records have never topped the 28C (82.4F), with the previous record for the weekend set at 28.6C in 1995.

The Herald:

Portobello beach, near Edinburgh

Scotland just missed out on breaking its own record but it still had its hottest day of the year so far with 23.1C at Charterhall in Berwickshire, while sunworshippers in the Central Belt soaked up temperatures of up to 19.1C

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Aberdeenshire and the Highlands struggled to reach these warmer spells, only managing around 11C and 12C, though forecasters said that Aberdeen would get its fair share of the heat today, with temperature expected to reach around 20C.

However the sunny weather in Scotland is not set to last, as bands of cloud and rain will push in from the Atlantic with the weather becoming much more changeable for the rest of the week, the Met Office said.

Forecaster Greg Dewhurst said that as of today, "the west is going to stay cloudy with outbreaks of rain at times" though it would only be light and patchy.

Heatwave on its way with hottest day since records began expected

"The east will stay quite dry and bright and sunny, particular Aberdeenshire. It will be nice in the east with sunny spells, further west it will be between 12C and 15C, and through the latter part of the day the rain will push into Aberdeenshire into the evening," he said.

"The rain does become light and patchy by then so it shouldn't spoil things too much.

"Overall it will be a brighter picture in the west compared to the start of the day."

The Herald:

Naseby Park, Glasgow

On Wednesday, temperatures will be back to where they normally are at this time of year, between 12C and 14C, Mr Dewhurst said.

He added: "Wednesday will start quite bright with some sunny spells, but it doesn't last long unfortunately, as outbreaks of rain, clouds and strong winds move into Stornoway and spread eastwards.

"The weather will then stay typical for this time of year.

"We'll see the rain come through and the showers following on and continuing into the weekend, so it will be back to being changeable again."