20/05/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. After the dry April and start to May,

things have been turning much more unsettled over the past week or so.

We've had some heavy downpours,

thundery showers and more persistent rain.

Here's a scene from Friday in Buckinghamshire.

You can see the extent of the dark cloud there and heavy

rain. We also had hail and some thunderstorms as well as more

persistent rain in the east courtesy of this area of low pressure.

Now, that's tracking its way northwards as we head through

the course of Saturday, sitting across the north-east

of Scotland, and it will bring more persistent rain here.

But elsewhere through the course of the weekend, Saturday is a day of

heavy showers and a bit of sunshine in-between those showers, too.

And then Sunday, the second half of the weekend,

looks a bit drier as the showers tend to fade away for most of

us, and things will turn a little bit warmer, too.

So let's put some detail on the weekend's forecast, then.

Through Saturday, we've still got cloud and outbreaks of rain across

north-eastern Scotland in particular.

Elsewhere across the country, it's sunshine and showers.

Now, the showers bubbling up, particularly during the afternoon.

They'll be hit and miss, almost anywhere,

particularly heavy across parts of Wales into southern England,

too, some thunderstorms likely.

18 degrees in the sunshine in-between any of those showers,

so don't write the day off completely,

but we will see a few heavy downpours at times.

And then through to Sunday, then,

we'll start to see this area of high pressure around the near

Continent pushing its way in across the UK.

Now, that higher pressure will squeeze away most of the showers.

We could still catch a little bit of rain across the far

north-west of the UK, but for much of the country

it's going to be a dry day with fairly light winds, too, so in

the sunshine it's going to feel pleasantly warm, I think,

with temperatures up to round about 20 degrees or so

at best towards the south-east.

A little fresher across parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Now, looking into the new working week, for Monday we see an area

of low pressure sitting out towards the north-west.

Now, that's trying to push in, but it's bumping into the high

pressure sitting now towards the east of the UK.

Now, that means on Monday we will see some showery rain,

particularly in the west, as that low pressure moves in,

so some showers, blustery at times here.

The further towards the south-east you go, you're more likely to stay

dry and bright on Monday, and it is a little bit warmer, too,

with highs up to round about 22 degrees.

For Tuesday, we've still got an area of low pressure sitting to

the north of the UK, but actually, for many places not a bad day,

a westerly breeze and temperatures pretty much average for the

time of year, round about 15 to 20 degrees or so

with some sunshine, so not a bad day.

Pressure starting to build from the south in towards the middle

of the week. So, this is Wednesday and on into Thursday.

You can see this area of high pressure.

Now, that becomes the driving force of our weather, I think,

through the middle part of the week,

but low pressure trying to topple around that at times, too.

So it won't be dry everywhere through the middle part of

next week, but we are seeing this high pressure initially

towards the south-west

starting to push in across the UK through the middle part of the week.

Low pressure again affecting northern areas,

but as we head towards the latter half of next week,

high pressure does look like it becomes established across

much of the country. You can see the next area of low pressure likely

to be trying to move in, so there could well be

a breakdown in that high pressure late next week and into the weekend.

But in general, the most likely scenario

is that that high pressure holds on into next weekend, so a lot of dry,

settled weather. Could be quite warm at times,

but cooler conditions with some showers around the east coast

as we draw in the breeze here coming in from the North Sea.

That's it for now. We'll update you again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

Please, God...

Not this time.

From acclaimed writer Jimmy McGovern...