More rain today, which will sink over SE Britain this afternoon and just keep on coming. Plenty of sunshine elsewhere but with a cool north wind. The sun will come out tomorrow SE England
The contrast across the UK has been quite incredible. I’m sitting in bright sunshine which was abundant yesterday across Scotland. Parts of England and Wales have sat under persistent rain with miserable skies and a continual soaking. There will be more rain today, gradually becoming confined to SE Britain through the day and still with the risk of localised flooding.
Stowe had 28mm of rain yesterday, that’s nearly 2”. Temperatures rose to 23C (73F) near Tunbridge Wells, and Tiree saw over 12 hours of sunshine.
For Wednesday, the UK is in between high pressure to the west which is bringing more settled conditions over Scotland and Northern Ireland and a low pressure in the North Sea. This low pressure has various weather fronts wrapped around it and is trailing all the rain over the southern half of Britain.
It's not been great for harvest.
In between the high and the low, we have a brisk northerly flow, and you will notice the cool breeze, even if you do see sunshine. This north wind has already blown low cloud in from the Moray Firth and is resulting in some damp weather over Grampian. Then we have the clear skies and sunshine and the cloud and rain further south will drift down, almost pushed by the northerly flow. Bright, drier weather will appear for Yorkshire and much of Wales by lunchtime with the Midlands improving in the afternoon. The far SE of England, which started off okay this morning will see the rain spread in from the north and then have a very wet afternoon
Under the rain and in the north wind, it will feel cool, at only 14C. In the sunshine and out of the breeze it will be a pleasant summer’s day with temperatures in the high teens and low twenties once more. By this evening some of the heaviest rain will be over Essex, Greater London down to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, so horrible conditions on the M25 at rush hour.
Overnight it turns cool and clear for many, still with a brisk north wind around the coasts, lighter inland and backing to a westerly for northern Scotland.
By Thursday morning, there will be remnants of the midweek rain still over Kent but hopefully more patchy by then. There will be a few showery bits for the far NW of Scotland but generally, tomorrow will be a fine, dry day with lots of sunshine. Pressure will continue to rise, so the brisk North wind will ease away for England and Wales, but a moderate SW wind will pick up for western Scotland. Temperatures again will be around 17 to 22C, but with lighter winds, it will feel better in the sunshine.
The SW winds will strength for the Western Isles by Thursday evening as a new area of low pressure moves south of Iceland. Weather fronts from this will then bring rain into NW Britain and Northern Ireland overnight. Ahead of the rain, it will be clear and cool but with a glorious start for Friday over England and Wales. Temperatures in East Anglia and London will reach into the mid 20sC, so warmer than it has been this week. The wet and windy weather will move over more of Scotland, Northern Ireland into the far north of England and Wales. Eastern Britain could see some shelter, sunny spells and temperatures up to 20C but it looks like a pretty wet Friday afternoon for the Cumbrian Fells, Snowdonia and northern Pennines.
Overnight Friday, the cold front moves down to SE England, and temperatures drop away. A bit of uncertainty about when the rain band will clear SE England, so there could be a slow grey and damp start here.
Weekend
Then we are under an area of high pressure, so the weekend looks more settled. Not overly warm but with light winds (away from the far north of Scotland) it will feel okay and be a welcome change from all this rain.
