07/08/2014 Weather for the Week Ahead

Thanks for joining me and tuning in

to our extended nightly weather forecast.

We'll have a look at the trends into next week and the weekend as well

and the prospects of some bad weather heading our way.

But first of all, let's talk about the here and now.

Wednesday wasn't a bad day across the country, at least for most of us.

We had some heavy showers, downpours in places,

for example in Newcastle and parts of Northern Ireland.

But as we head into Thursday, the relatively quiet weather continues,

with plenty of sunshine, a little on the hazy side,

and maybe the odd shower here and there,

but most of the showers shouldn't be too heavy

and there won't be too many of them.

Temperatures at best will get up to 25, we think, in the London area,

more like the high teens or nudging up to 20 in Glasgow and in Newcastle.

So, that's Thursday.

Things do change as we head into the last day of the working week.

For Friday, this area of low pressure swings out of the Bay of Biscay,

and the thinking is that Southern England,

the Southeast and East Anglia

are in for some pretty heavy rain, at least a spell of heavy rain.

Also, some heavy rain is heading in the direction of Northern Ireland,

but you'll see that there's this slither in the middle of the UK,

between this area of rain here and here,

where we're actually going to have plenty of bright weather

but also some showers,

so really the best way to describe it

is a messy day on Friday, very changeable, from sunshine to rain,

perhaps to sunshine again.

But be prepared for quite a few downpours.

And then, as we head into Saturday,

that area of low pressure is going to probably graze,

at least in the morning, Eastern parts of Scotland.

It could give gusty conditions and heavy rain.

But we're between weather systems,

so the weather's looking decent on Saturday, with some sunshine.

I suspect the best of the weather will be across more Eastern areas,

whereas in the West we'll catch a few showers.

And then, beyond that, that's when things become a bit more interesting.

So after some relatively quiet weather on Saturday,

all eyes are on the Atlantic.

Now, let me show you the satellite picture

of what's happening just off the Eastern seaboard of the US right now.

This is actually ex-tropical storm Bertha.

Or it used to be a hurricane. Ex-hurricane Bertha.

It is drifting very slowly in our direction.

There are two scenarios of how this, or the remnants of it, may affect us.

One track takes it sort of more into France, the Bay of Biscay

and into France, so the storm's a little bit further South.

Another track could take it more directly over the UK

by the time we get to Sunday.

So there are these two scenarios, and we're still not quite sure

which way this weather system is going to swing.

And actually it's not here,

it's the one down here,

strong winds, gale-force winds

and heavy rain spreading into the South of the country.

And this could be heavy rain, but, as I say, it may miss us,

it may go further South.

It could go further North, affecting more parts of the country.

And then by the time we get to Monday,

that poor weather will slip away

into either the near Continent or into the North Sea.

It really depends which way it goes.

And it does look as though things will tend to quieten down

by the time we get to Monday, with some sunshine.

But by this stage, the forecast is becoming a little bit uncertain.

So what do we think is going to happen from round about Tuesday?

Well, it does look as though low pressure's going to be

in charge of the weather across the Northern part of the country,

whereas high pressure will be to the South,

and that effectively translates to kind of a typical weather situation

that we get this time of the year in the summer.

Before that, we still have to get through that storm,

so there's a lot of uncertainty in that,

but it does look as though through that period

the driest weather will be in the South,

whereas in Scotland and Northern Ireland, it looks more showery.

But stay tuned to our forecasts. That's the latest.

I've never ever, ever done gymnastics at all.

If their hands aren't bleeding,

they haven't trained hard enough. Crazy hard.