May’s glorious sunshine, which has only been interrupted by brief thunderstorms, has resulted in this being the driest spring in more than a centuryA wall of rain moving in during the early hours of May 23A wall of rain moving in during the early hours of May 23

The balmy conditions enjoyed by Brits look set to be brought to an abrupt end as weather maps show a ‘850-mile wall of rain’ is on the way.

May’s glorious sunshine, which has only been interrupted by brief thunderstorms, has resulted in this being the driest spring in more than a century.

So far, there has been 80.6mm of rain recorded for the UK – almost 20mm less than the record low for the full season of 100.7mm set in 1852.

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However the Met Office said changeable conditions could arrive at the end of the next week – a prediction backed by maps from WXCharts, the Mirror reports.

The maps show downpours could batter the UK on Friday, May 23, with a band of rain spanning from Land’s End in Cornwall to the North Sea.

Up to 5mm of rain has been predicted to fall per hour in some areas.

Forecasters expect the heaviest showers to arrive at 12am on May 23, hitting western areas of the UK, including west Wales, Belfast and Scotland.

It will then shift east and hit major English cities by 6am, with Birmingham expected to see up to 1mm of rain at this time.

Temperatures were expected to drop as low as 8C in the city too, according to WXCharts.

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The Met Office’s Oli Claydon said: “At the moment, the indications are that as we move towards the end of next week, we could start to see some more changeable conditions moving in from the west, which would bring some fresh temperatures and potentially something in the way of measurable rain.

“There are a couple of spells where we might see some very light showers at times in places over the next week or so, but nothing meaningful.

“And obviously sectors such as agriculture are really looking now for some meaningful rain.”