A relatively unsettled feel to the weather during the coming days, but even so, there's not a great deal of rain in the forecast for parts of the south and southeast of the UK.
The weather will be relatively unsettled at times during the next few days. However, there is still potential for parts of the south and south-east to see remarkably little rain despite low pressure systems sometimes crossing the country, continuing the long dry spell which contributed to the outbreak of wildfires during last week’s record breaking heatwave.
Today will be generally cloudy with outbreaks of rain spreading from the west. There are currently some sunny spells in the eastern half of England, but these will tend to become more confined to southern areas and to East Anglia as the day progresses. There is a chance of some thunderstorms developing in Northern Ireland during the evening and pushing into western Scotland. During the evening, the rain may extend as far south as Lincolnshire (which has been very dry recently), but further south it is expected to remain generally dry.
In East Anglia and the south-east it will get quite hot this afternoon, with temperatures reaching around 27C in most places. Most other parts of England will reach highs of 22 to 25C. Northern Ireland and eastern Scotland will generally exceed 20C, but it will be cooler over much of western Scotland.
It will be a rather warm night tonight with temperatures widely falling no lower than 16 or 17C. Some clear intervals will develop over most of the country, but there will be further outbreaks of rain over the West Country, south Wales and in the northern half of Scotland.
There will be further outbreaks of rain for most tomorrow, but sunny spells are expected to develop more widely, particularly in most eastern parts of the UK. There may again be some thunder over Northern Ireland, and thundery outbreaks are expected to develop more widely through Scotland and northern England during the afternoon. It will remain dry with plenty of sunshine over much of southern England and East Anglia. It will be another hot day in East Anglia and the south-east with temperatures widely reaching 30 or 31C, and generally the high 20s in the Midlands. The coolest regions will be Northern Ireland and western Scotland where most places will reach around 20C.
Another warm and sticky night is likely over much of England on Sunday night into Monday. It will turn cooler through early next week with a mix of sunshine and showers, though staying mainly dry in the south. Monday will have quite widespread showers, especially in Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England. A ridge of high pressure will move in from the west, meaning that showers will be isolated on Tuesday and Wednesday. By Tuesday, top temperatures will generally in the low 20s Celsius in England, and the north of Scotland and Northern Ireland will reach 17 to 19C.
Wednesday will generally have a fair amount of cloud, but the weather will turn sunnier and mainly dry towards the end of next week, resulting in temperatures rising again, generally into the high 20s Celsius. By Friday there is potential for some areas in the south to reach around 30C.
While the UK looks like experiencing further hot weather at times, especially in East Anglia and the south-east, it looks unlikely that we will see a return to exceptional heat approaching 40C in the near future. However, it looks likely that Spain in particular will continue to experience intense heat on and off for the foreseeable future. Temperatures are set to reach 42 to 44C in south-western Spain today, tomorrow and Monday. The heat will subside around the middle of this coming week, but it looks set to return again by next weekend.
