27/03/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. Of course, British summertime began this weekend.

That doesn't normally mean that we leap into summerlike

temperatures but it was quite a remarkable weekend for some of us.

No more so than across the Highlands of Scotland,

where all that sunshine sent temperatures soaring.

In a place called Inverbroom we reached around 20 degrees,

melting some of that snowfall you can see in the distance.

The warmest day of the year so far.

High pressure is responsible, keeping things high and dry,

keeping the rain bearing weather fronts well at bay,

and the high-pressure in turn

is courtesy of a huge block in the Jet Stream.

Think of this block a s a boulder in the stream, if you like,

keeping the wet weather well at bay.

But if we fast forward to the end of the week,

that boulder gets swept away as the Jet Stream starts

to plough its way right the way across the country.

That'll bring a marked change in the weather.

It'll introduce rain bearing weather systems in off the Atlantic

so we're going to see some wet weather, I think,

by the end of the week.

So let's sum up the next few days.

We start off on that dry note

but then rain starts to push in from the west.

Having said all that, in any brighter spells,

it will still feel pleasantly warm at times.

Not exactly warm out there first thing in the morning.

Distinctly chilly, in actual fact.

Single figures and in some places yet again we will wake up to a frost

across these more rural parts of north-west Britain in particular.

Some areas of low cloud and fog around, too.

That'll be a change in the weather across some central and eastern

parts of England, particularly east of the Pennines,

creeping up towards the coast of south-east Scotland as well.

Most of us, though, actually will have another fine day

and it'll feel quite pleasant again

up into the mid, possibly high teens in one or two places.

Where it stays grey, it will be a lot chillier, just 8 or 9 degrees.

But in the sunshine, across the south for example,

getting as high as 16 or 17 degrees.

And the breeze won't be as strong as it has been

across these more southern areas through this weekend.

So a fine start to the week for most of us.

Not going to last for much longer, though.

That low pressure starts to wind itself up

and send weather fronts in our direction,

the first of which will introduce thicker cloud and some showery rain,

initially to the more southern and western areas.

Quite hit and miss, these showers. Some places avoiding them

but there'll be some heavy downpours around, I think.

More northern and eastern parts holding on to the dry weather.

Quite chilly near some North Sea coasts.

But in the brightness inland, again, temperatures doing pretty well.

That weather system will be followed by another one

which has got a bit more oomph in it

and that does mean some heavier rain,

again, initially across the more western parts of the country.

Quite a gusty wind, too.

It'll take some time, though,

for the rain to move its way further eastwards.

Still some dry and fine weather around.

By Thursday, that frontal system looks as if it might get

hooked up across these more southern and eastern areas.

Don't take the position of that too literally but it does introduce

the chance of some wet weather across the more southeastern

parts of the UK, which will be a change in the weather here.

Further north and west, a mixture of sunshine and showers,

and, again, with southerly winds temperatures still doing pretty well

if you see some brighter spells.

Up into the mid to high teens once more.

By Friday it's a bit of a mess, frankly.

Don't take the position of these blobs of blue too literally

but you get the gist, don't you? Much more unsettled.

There'll be some wet weather around and some of these downpours

could be quite prolonged as well.

So some big changes taking place over the next few days.

Into early April, next week we start off on that showery, cool theme

but there are indications that things might start to turn

drier again later on in the week from the south.

I'll update you again tomorrow.