08/05/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. There are plenty of different features

that can affect our weather.

Cloud amounts, rainfall, sunshine, wind direction,

and during the week ahead,

they are going to jostle for position

to determine just how the weather looks and feels,

and the start of the week is going to feel cool,

because it is this north or north-easterly

winds that dominate the scene,

bringing quite a lot of cloud in across eastern areas,

perhaps the odd spot of drizzle.

The best of the sunshine

through Monday will again be out West,

whereas the east coast will feel decidedly chilly.

Just 8 or 9 degrees, and even where we get

that sunshine further west, temperatures will be

a little down on where they have been.

As we go through Monday night, the wind

will become less of a feature because

the isobars, the white lines on our chart,

become more widely spaced. They open up,

so those winds fall light and there will be

a fair amount of cloud around

by this stage on Tuesday morning,

so Tuesday, yes, a fairly cloudy day.

That cloud could be thick enough to produce the odd spot

of drizzle, but we'll see

some sunny breaks here and there.

Temperatures around 10-16 degrees.

As we move through Tuesday night into Wednesday,

high pressure really is the main player

in our weather story, and as the high sits

right on top of the British Isles,

the winds will generally be fairly light.

We'll lose what's left of that cool

north-easterly breeze, so many places feeling warmer,

more in the way of sunshine as well.

The best of that across England, Wales

and Northern Ireland. Some patchy cloud

bubbling up through the day.

Across Scotland, we will see

more in the way of cloud, and perhaps

some patchy rain up towards the far north-east.

Through Wednesday evening, things could get

a little chilly because there won't be much wind,

although those winds will then start

to strengthen, becoming more of a feature again

in the south as the isobars begin to move in.

Perhaps a more significant feature by this stage on Thursday

will be some showery rain which is likely to move

erratically into some southern areas.

Further north, more sunshine.

Temperatures not doing too badly, 11-19 degrees.

Through Thursday night into Friday,

I think it's this low out here

that's going to become the main feature.

That'll be driving all of our weather,

bringing lumps of moisture, lumps of wet weather

up from the south, and with that, potentially,

some fairly warm air as well.

What that means is that when we start to see

rain, and we will see some rain for the end of the week,

that rain could be quite heavy because that warm air

will give some extra energy into the atmosphere.

So, some heavy downpours on Friday,

could be some rumbles of thunder,

some flashes of lightning. Rain will be welcome.

A bit of uncertainty about just how far north it will get

across parts of Scotland. For the end of the week,

these are the different features, the different players

that may have a part to play.

Low pressure up here to the West,

another low out in the Atlantic.

All the way down here,

we have an area of high pressure,

and it is really the jetstream

that's going to decide which of those

different features will become the next feature

to take us to the next weekend and beyond.

And it looks like the jetstream will start to break through,

running from West to East, winding up weather systems

in the Atlantic and driving them towards

the north-west of the British Isles.

At the same time, this high pressure

has its part to play, starting to work

its way in towards the south-east,

so through the weekend and then beyond

into the following week, there will always be

high pressure close by to the south and the east,

but areas of low pressure are likely to run across

northern and western parts of the country.

With that, a south-westerly wind, not a particularly cold wind.

So, spells of rain likely as we move further ahead.

The wettest weather will be in the north-west

and with that south-westerly wind,

it will generally feel fairly warm.