Pressure is rising, it will be drier and also warmer for the upcoming long weekend. About time after such a wet and cool May.
With a Bank Holiday weekend coming up, murmurings that the weather is going to improve are being met with “about time” rather than “I’ll believe it when I see it”. May 2021 has been rubbish. Wales seeing its wettest May on record, stretching back over 160 years. And still with a week to go. All these showers with hail and thunder making it seem more like April. Farmers and growers have been pleased to see rainfall after the dry, sunny but cold April. May has also been cool although when the sun does manage to break through it can feel, suddenly, much warmer.
Pressure is rising for the bank holiday weekend. That tends to bring more settled, drier weather with light winds. The high pressure isn’t showing a solid, dominant anticyclone and low pressure looks to approach from the NW on Monday, but it should do enough to bring an improvement for the end of the month.
The late May Bank holiday weekend coincides (hopefully) with eased restrictions allowing overnight stays. So, more travel seems inevitable.
The Jetstream has been lurking away to the south and now is buckling with great meanders across the Atlantic. By the weekend it looks to head away north with pressure rising over the UK. Will it hold off the low pressure to the NW? The GFS seems keener but the ECM model lets the frontal rain reach right in over Ireland and much of Scotland by Monday 31st. So, some uncertainty here.
It does look warmer. Temperatures into the high teens and low twenties. Perhaps seeing 23 or 24C in places. With strong sunshine and light winds, it will feel warm and quite different to most of this month. May so far has been colder than average. Sitting out in the evening won’t be such a chore, maybe even the blankets could be left aside.
The more settled conditions will be good news as more people take to the roads. Not the heavy rain and surface water that has been such a feature of recent weeks. Nor the thunderstorms. No strong winds but it could almost be we have forgotten how to venture out in warm, sunny weather. Find the sunglasses and sun hats, pack extra water and remember the sunscreen. The tree pollen season is continuing, and the grass pollen season is just beginning. The main season expected in early June.
If you are off to the seaside, there will be an onshore breeze for east coast Britain, more of an easterly for the Channel Islands. The sea is still cold, only 9 to 11C. As the weekend progresses a southerly wind picks up for western Britain and Ireland which allows the temperatures to leap up for Moray. Warmth for inland northern England and the Midlands on Sunday but beware of the forecast temperatures on Monday. We’ll have to keep an eye on that low pressure and its weather fronts away to the NW. The southeastern half of the UK still looks like staying fine and warm. Just in time for half term.
