A band of heavy rain is heading for the UK, threatening to make the May bank holiday a washout, the Met Office has warned.

Most of the UK can expect grey skies and chilly temperatures for the rest of the holiday weekend.

Met Office forecaster Sophie Yeomans said the clouds will start rolling into the north-west of the country on Sunday afternoon.

"It will continue moving south east through the day and most areas on Sunday will be turning incredibly cloudy," she said.

"Some parts of the south-east will have a bright start but it will turn hazy and the cloud will start to thicken through the day, with some rain arriving.

"Rain will move into central and south-eastern areas through the rest of the afternoon, reaching the south-east by the evening."

Sunday is expected to get off to a chilly start, with temperatures below freezing making frost likely.

It should then warm up to highs of 13C (55.4F) as a blanket of heavy cloud traps air and raises the temperature - making it a somewhat warmer, but very dismal, day.

For most of the UK, Monday is looking set for heavy rain and blustery winds, brightening in the west by late afternoon.

Temperatures are set to peak at 16C (62.6F) in the south-east.

But it's not all bad news - Ms Yeomans said the recent cold snap is now coming to an end, with the mercury due to hit the high teens by the end of the week.

"The main risk of snow now is only really up in the mountains of Scotland," she said.

"Towards the end of next week it will turn much milder and the risk of snow is starting to diminish."