11/08/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

If you haven't heard, the weekend's not looking too bad weather-wise,

but then into next week it stays on the unsettled side.

So let's take a look at a bit more detail.

Let's start with August so far, which has had normal rainfall,

actually, for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However, for England and Wales we know it has been wet,

but it's been very wet across East Anglia

and the south-east in particular, where we've had, well,

during the course of Wednesday, just two or three inches of rain.

That's about the August rainfall in one day.

Now, those showers did eventually clear on Thursday,

most of us had dry, fine weather,

but already the change was afoot towards the north and west.

The next weather system is rolling in off the Atlantic.

That weather system looks set to bring rain to mostly western

and northern areas during the course of Friday, so eastern parts

may escape with a mostly dry, a second mostly dry day.

So, if you're up in the early hours of Friday morning,

you may be lucky enough to see the Perseid Meteor Shower,

because it's across England and Wales

where we'll have the clearest weather.

Friday night looks as if it'll be cloudier for the most part -

you may catch a glance in eastern parts of Scotland.

But as I say, it's a different-looking weather day.

It's windier, we could have gales in the north

and west blowing that rain eastwards across Scotland, Northern Ireland,

much of England and Wales except, perhaps, the East Midlands,

East Anglia and the south-east,

which is where it will feel warmest,

but for most of us it's much cloudier.

There won't be a huge amount of rain - it could be heavy

at times over the hills, but obviously it will feel cooler

because of the wind and the cloud and rain.

But as we move into Saturday,

the hope is that that north-westerly breeze will blow

a lot of the cloud away and so it will be an improving picture.

Not a particularly warm one,

just because we've got that breeze coming down from the north-west.

Not as strong winds either as Friday, but a cooler direction.

Eventually that rain clears away from southern and eastern areas.

So it's not a bad day, just a few showers around,

and then through Saturday night into Sunday

we see a little ridge of high pressure,

so again it will be quite chilly, I think, Sunday morning,

down into single figures in rural areas.

But it does look like the drier day of the weekend,

but both days don't look too bad.

Lighter winds, so feeling a little bit warmer,

and that high pressure should hold off these weather fronts

until later in the day.

They're more likely to come in through Sunday night into Monday.

You can see this little area of low pressure winding itself up,

another weather front to the north.

So we start the new week back to square one - pretty unsettled,

especially across the northern and western half of the UK,

central and eastern parts of England staying a little bit warmer

and sunnier and drier.

So, the rain again for the north and west on Monday,

but Monday evening and into Tuesday sees that rain and the emphasis

for the wetter weather shifting into eastern areas again.

And there could be a thundery element in that,

so again, Tuesday looks quite wet for a start.

There's some uncertainty on timings but we'll keep you posted.

And then behind that, it's sunny spells

and a scattering of showers, mostly in the north and west.

Now, once that area of low pressure moves away

there's a temporary ridge of high pressure,

so the middle of the week is set fair. But for how long?

Now, that's the question mark, because you can see

the succession of low pressures lining up in the Atlantic.

This one on Thursday, possibly Friday, looks particularly nasty.

But thereafter, we've got those weather fronts coming in.

And the difficulty is that with that area of low pressure

there may be some tropical air mixed in, which will give us

a lot of wet weather, but it also makes it more difficult

for the computer models to analyse it correctly.

So, yes, we have some uncertainty, but we know it will stay unsettled,

we're fairly confident about that, so there will be rain at times

and the potential is there for some stormy weather later in the week.

And again, no sign of any prolonged dry and sunny spells at this stage

but as ever, you can check the latest on the website.