15/05/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. Rain is in the forecast and we haven't heard that very often.

This week, the weather is going to be dominated more by

low pressure rather than high pressure.

The rain was very hit and miss over the weekend.

That band of cloud brought some rain for a while

but otherwise it was sunshine and showers.

But we look out into the Atlantic and already this cloud is arriving

and that will bring with it this area of low pressure,

some outbreaks of rain.

It is coming from a long way south so it is drawing up some warm air

and the potential for some heavy rain as well.

So, as we head into Monday, we have got outbreaks of rain spilling

across most of the UK, perhaps not very much rain in the south-east.

The wettest weather is always going to be over the western hills.

But through the afternoon, the rain tends to ease off a bit.

Where you've got some shelter from the high ground,

you could get them sunshine.

For example, around the Moray Firth,

perhaps in the north-east of England, perhaps into east Wales.

Still some heavier rain over the hills of Wales and tracking its way

through Lincolnshire. But not that much rain towards the south-east.

Even though there is a lot of cloud around and rain never too far away,

it is quite warm air,

so temperatures 16, perhaps 17 degrees, quite widely.

That first area of heavy rain moves away into the North Sea and

then we could get another dose of heavy rain coming back through

the Irish Sea into Wales, Scotland and across northern England as well.

All the while, we've still got this south-westerly wind which will be

strongest through the Irish Sea and a very mild night,

14 or 15 degrees perhaps in some areas.

So that is quite a change in the forecast.

Areas of low pressure dominating on Tuesday.

The main feature - that weather front which is just stranded really

across the UK. Where it stops, it's difficult to know on Tuesday.

At the moment it looks like more across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,

perhaps the Midlands, Wales

and the south-west seeing some rain at times.

It doesn't get too far away from the south-east by the end of the day.

But here, we've got some warm and humid air

so it could be as high as 23 or 24.

Even behind that band of rain

where we're seeing bands of heavy showers

and blustery winds,

it's not particularly cold at all.

Things start to change again on Tuesday.

That weather front is a little further

towards the south-east of the UK

and it threatens to bring some heavier rain

to south-east England and East Anglia.

This is probably going to be

the wettest day of the week

for this part of the UK.

Away from here, some sunny spells.

Blustery showers in the north-west,

but temperatures will be a bit lower

by a few degrees on Wednesday

and that warm and muggy air

is getting pushed away into central Europe instead.

It's cooler air that's going to dominate our weather

from Thursday onwards

and that means sunshine and showers.

The rain in the south-east

out into the near continent,

not much rain for eastern parts of the UK.

More showers further west,

but those temperatures round about the mid-teens

at best on Thursday

and then we've got the area of low pressure

that starts to amble towards the UK

by the end of the week.

What that does,

it just sort of intensifies the showers -

showers or longer spells of rain,

some quite gusty winds,

especially in the south-west,

and it will feel quite a bit cooler

with temperatures about 13 degrees or so.

Now, looking ahead into the weekend,

we're going to find that low pressure

still very close to the UK -

that means more showers around.

Now it's slowly pushing its way

towards the near continent

and there's higher pressure out to the west

and beyond next weekend,

we're going to find that high pressure

slowly pushing into the UK,

but it is a very slow process

so western areas becoming drier

with more sunshine,

but still across the eastern side of the UK,

there's a chance of showers

or some longer spells of rain.

At least, though, it won't be as windy.