ITS good news for anyone spending the Bank Holiday in Bonnie Scotland.

Forecasters are predicting this weekend will see the hottest weather of the year so far in the UK, including some parts of Scotland.

Although Glasgow is unlikely to experience the highs of southern England on Saturday and Sunday, the mercury is expected to hit around 18C (64F) in the West of Scotland on Monday.

Weather experts said temperatures will start to rise on Sunday, with highs of 59F although heavy rain is predicted on Saturday.

For anyone heading south of the border temperatures are expected to hit 72F in some parts on southern England, eclipsing the current year-so-far record of 22C (71F) reached in mid-April.

A spokeswoman for MeteoGroup said: "It's certainly getting warmer across the UK over the weekend, with quite a lot of sunshine.

"We would expect to see temperatures of around 15C (59F) on Friday in Glasgow with highs of 18C expected on Monday."

Around 27,000 passengers are expected to jet off from Glasgow Airport this Bank Holiday weekend, with Friday set to be the busiest day of the weekend.

Airport operator BAA said 1.68million passengers would pass through its seven UK airports in the period from Friday to bank holiday Monday.

And figures show Scots holidaymakers are travelling further than ever to enjoy a break that does not break the bank.

In the past year, the non-Euro' market from Glasgow has grown 18%, with Turkey leading the market. This summer, operators flyglobespan, Scottravel and Teleticket are adding extra capacity to meet the growing demand for flights from Glasgow.