High pressure will stay well in charge of the UK's weather this week, but as it starts to shift there may be more sunshine for some later in the week. Then a slow change to less settled weather looks likely to begin over the weekend.
The amounts of cloud cover during this high pressure spell have surprised many. The high pressure has been covering a large part of the country, but the north to north-easterly airflow has been sufficient to bring plenty of cloud in off the North Sea. Yesterday and so far this morning, the cloud has even been thick enough to produce some drizzle and low visibility, mainly in central and eastern parts of England.
Satellite and radar from earlier this morning.
There are some breaks in the cloud sheet, though, mainly over the west and south-west of Scotland and some coastal parts of Northern Ireland, north-west England and the West Country. These will tend to become more extensive during the day, with much of southwest Scotland in particular set to have a sunny day. These areas will see the highest temperatures, peaking at 19 to 22C. However, it will stay predominantly cloudy for much of the country with just brief sunny intervals, if any, and some outbreaks of drizzle will continue to move slowly southwestwards, especially through eastern England. Highs of between 15 and 17C will be typical in the cloudy areas.
Overnight, it will stay mainly cloudy for most, with some further drizzle in the east, especially in England, with temperatures falling no lower than 12 to 14C. However, in the areas with clearer skies, especially southwest Scotland, temperatures will fall lower, with minimum values of 8 to 10C quite typical.
High pressure will continue to dominate the weather during the rest of the working week. However, while it will remain centred over the north of the UK, it will slowly change position, and by the end of the week, most of us will have a south-easterly wind rather than a north-easterly.
This means that cloud cover will become less extensive, with more of the country seeing some sunny periods. However, it will remain predominantly cloudy over much of eastern England and also east Scotland, with the wind continuing to bring cloud in off the North Sea.
As well as sheltered western parts seeing increasing amounts of sunshine, it will also tend to become sunnier generally across the south of England as the week goes on, particularly the south-west. By Thursday and Friday, this is where we will typically see the highest daytime temperatures, reaching 22 to 24C in the south and southwest of England, away from the east coast, where onshore breezes will keep the daytime weather relatively cool. In other western areas, highs of 19 to 22C will be typical. The cloudier eastern regions will continue to see maximum temperatures of 15 to 17C.
The stable, settled weather will break down into the weekend as low pressure is set to move close to the west of Britain. Sunday, in particular, looks like it may be a wet day for many, and this more unsettled regime is set to continue into next week. However, with winds switching to a predominantly south to south-westerly direction, the more unsettled weather next week may produce more in the way of sunshine for much of eastern England.
The Atlantic hurricane season is now well underway. Hurricane Ida has continued to cause considerable disruption, leaving a million in Louisiana without power. There has been at least one death so far, caused by a fallen tree, and a man has gone missing after being attacked by an alligator in the floodwaters and losing his arm. Ida is now bearing down on Mississippi, where more disruption is expected. Meanwhile, a new named tropical storm, Kate, has formed in the North Atlantic.
