Warmer air is on its way to the UK this week with a real taste of spring. Sunday night saw hail and snow showers in Scotland with temperatures dipping to freezing, but by the middle of the week, temperatures in parts of England could reach 17 to 20C, possibly 21C which is 70 Fahrenheit.
March can be a tricky month, with a risk of frost and icy showers, but then surprising spring sunshine and sheltered warmth, which make you think that winter is truly fading away. Gardeners know it can still be treacherous.
High pressure is also heading to the UK, settling down the weather for the second half of the week and beyond. There have been bands of rain and heavy showers from the Atlantic so this should put a stop to all that but will disrupt the warmer southerly flow.
For Monday, we have high pressure to the south of Britain and an incoming weather system from the Atlantic. Ahead of this, there will be a mixture of bright, even sunny spells, a scattering of blustery showers and then increasing frontal cloud from the west. Temperatures on Monday will range from 9 to 12C but it will feel cooler in the moderate southwesterly wind.
Patchy rain from the front will reach over Northern Ireland and Wales, northwest England and western Scotland by lunchtime. The rain will set in for Cumbria with heavy rain for western and central mainland Scotland.
24 hour rainfall totals forecast Monday- Tues am UKV
This rainband is a warm front, introducing the warmer air from the south. Monday night will be mild with temperatures around 8 to 10C/ Cloud and patchy rain will move eastwards over England this evening and further north in Scotland. Rain will continue for the northwest Highlands into the night but elsewhere it will be cloudy but mild. There will be drizzle and damp weather for exposed coasts and hills in the moist southwesterly flow particularly for western Wales.
Tuesday
Within the warm sector, it will feel mild, although still windy. Breaks will appear in the cloud cover and in the sunshine, it will feel warm as temperatures rise into the mid-teens. Widely, they will be 12 to 15C, perhaps a sunnier eastern spot reaching 16C.
An interruption to the warmer air will lurk in the northwest. The following cold front will edge over the northwest of the UK later on Tuesday. There will be cooler air behind it with strong, gusty winds, sharp downpours of rain along the front. This rain will reach across to the Great Glen and over the western counties of Northern Ireland on Tuesday afternoon. This frontal boundary will be one of two factors determining where it manages to keep the warmer air and higher temperatures midweek.
Ahead of this cold front, there will be sunshine and the warm air. Scotland and around the Irish Sea will have a windy Tuesday and breezy elsewhere in the S/SW flow.
During Tuesday night, the frontal band will move over County Down and County Antrim, also central parts of Scotland into the Southern Uplands. It will fade during the night, becoming just a band of cloud, with only patchy rain for the hills by Wednesday morning. It will still define the cooler, fresher air from the Atlantic and the warmer air over England and Wales.
Wednesday
Pressure begins to rise across the UK. The very light southerly flow will back slightly for Kent and Essex, to a southeasterly. This will introduce fresher air from the continuent to East Anlgia and coastal counties of southeast Enlgand. The warm plume of air from Spain will linger for Wales, southwest and central England and temperatures will be around 14 to 16C but could move into the high teens with more sunshine. Bristol could see 20C on Wednesday and will have a lovely day.
Anywhere in sheltered sunshine will feel fine, but for this pool of warm air will make it feel like spring has sprung.
By Thursday there will be colder air reaching the far north of Scotland and the warm air from midweek will become diluted. Around 14 to 18C .The frontal band will divide Britain, over southern Scotland and the far north/northeast of England with more cloud and some persistent rain. This will lower the temperatures to around 10 to 12C and the nights will become cooler later this week. Mostly the high pressure will bring a lot of dry, fair weather with a more settled end to the week.
Loading recent activity...
