Glastonbury Festival gets underway on Wednesday and will see ten’s of thousands of people heading to rural Somerset.

Met Office Chief Forecaster Neil Armstrong said: “Our advice that you should plan for both sunhats and raincoats for this year’s festival remains.”

“There will be plenty of sunshine today across the South West, although there could be more cloud later in the day, and temperatures will reach 26C or 27C.

“The warm and sunny conditions continue on Thursday, but there will be an increasing risk of thunderstorms through the afternoon and evening which bring a risk of some torrential downpours. The exact location of these is still uncertain, but people can so stay up to date with the latest forecast information and warnings through our website or app.”

For the longer term, Deputy Chief Forecaster Daniel Rudman added: “From Friday onward the weather will become more unsettled. There is a risk of heavy showers and thunderstorms in the Glastonbury area on both Friday and Saturday, although these should be quick moving, some surface water might accumulate at times from the heaviest showers. Temperatures will start to dip as we go through the end of the week returning to near normal for the time of year, with highs likely around 18-20C.

“Sunday is expected to be mostly dry and bright at first but with showers once again developing through the morning, some of which could be heavy, and possibly thundery. The unsettled pattern is expected to continue to dominate into the start of next week.”

You can keep up to date with the latest forecast on our website, by following us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as on our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store. Keep track of current weather warnings on the weather warning page. 

Glastonbury weather statistics

The first Glastonbury Festival took place in September 1970 and using Met Office data from nearby weather stations, the records tell a story of some unforgettable festivals. 

In what will come as no surprise to anyone who was there, Glastonbury 2007 holds the record for the festivals wettest day. 60.1mm of rain fell in a single day at nearby Rodney Stoke.  

For other unsettled weather, the highest wind gust speed recorded for Glastonbury was 41mph, which has been reached at Yeovilton in 1985 and 1987 during the event.  

Although 1997 was dubbed the ‘year of the mud’ on the Glastonbury website thanks to a deluge of rain in the days preceding the event, it actually holds the record for the coldest festival day with 13.2°C as high as the temperature reached at Castle Cary Grove Mead.  

In 2017, with The Foo Fighters headlining, the mercury reached a balmy 31.2°C at Rodney Stoke, while the warmest night was recorded in the same year, with 17.6°C at the same location.  

The sunniest day of Glastonbury on record was in 1989, when a station at Yeovilton recorded approximately 15 hours and 36 minutes of sunshine.  

Check out tips for keeping cool in hot weather or how to cope in heavy rain as part of WeatherReady from the Met Office.