Make the most of the sun: It’s disappearing after today

Most of the British Isles was bathed in scorching temperatures which reached 27C (80.6F) in places on Sunday.

The death of a man who drowned as he rescued two children from the sea was one of a number of water-related tragedies as temperatures soared at the weekend.

But forecasters are predicting a gradual cooling during the week to come, including widespread thundery showers across parts of the country on Wednesday and culminating in a substantially cooler Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend.

Forecaster Sally Webb of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said it will be another sunny day across most of the UK but temperatures will be slightly cooler. She said this cooling trend would accelerate through the week. “For most areas (it) is going to another sunny day,” she said. “But while it’s still going to be warm, we’re going to be looking at something like 26C or 27C in London and 24C to 25C elsewhere. So it will be a little bit cooler.”

Ms Webb said there was chance of thundery showers in some areas of central England but the area which will see the biggest difference will be north-east Scotland, which could be a lot cooler. She said that by Tuesday a lot of the country would be cooler, especially in the north of England and Scotland. And by Thursday, top temperatures are likely to be down to 17C or 18C and a similar level is likely to be maintained into the weekend.

Average maximum temperatures for England in May are 14C to 17C (57.2F to 62.6F), while Scotland would normally be between 13C and 15C (55.4F to 59F). Last week was the driest since the end of March, according to the Environment Agency.

Several deaths marred the good weather at the weekend. A 25-year-old man drowned off West Wittering beach, near Chichester, West Sussex, after going to the assistance of two youngsters who were playing in a rubber ring, Sussex Police said. The news came as police named Nicholas Smith, 23, as the man who died in hospital after getting into difficulty near a waterfall in Linn Park in Glasgow on Saturday.

In a further incident, a 22-year-old man died after getting into difficulty while swimming with friends at a disused quarry at Ballykelly, near Monasterevin, Co Kildare, on Saturday night. A 21-year-old man also died while swimming in a lake in Milton Keynes.

A 15-year-old boy also drowned in a reservoir. Emergency services were called to Yarrow Valley Country Park, in Chorley, Lancashire, on Sunday following a report that a youngster was in difficulties in the water. His body was later recovered from the scene at Birkacre Brow at about 11.30pm, Lancashire Constabulary said.