Kew Gardens in west London reached 26.6C on Wednesday 8th, the warmest day of the year so far thanks to incredible early April warmth. Change is on its way. Mona (Anglesey) saw 26.2C on Tuesday. As cold fronts bring cloud, and outbreaks of rain southeastwards through the UK, temperatures will dive away. By Friday, London will be closer to 13C.
The weekend weather will be governed by a lingering low pressure away to the northwest. This will keep the UK in a cooler flow off the Atlantic with mixed weather conditions. There will be a strong jet over the mid-Atlantic on Thursday night. By Friday, the weekend low will move into a region of development at the left exit of the jet core and deepen. As the jet buckles near western Europe, it keeps the low in place for the weekend but the low will fill slowly.
The cold front from this low will bring heavy rain to Northern Ireland on Friday evening and the rainband will move over Britain during Friday night.
Saturday
By dawn, the rain will be over windy Grampian and northern England with some heavier bursts, even sleet and snow over the mountain tops and it will feel chilly behind the cold front. Over southern Britain, the rainband will be more fragmented. There is some uncertainty around the timing of the clearance of the rainband from eastern Britain so keep that in mind for Saturday morning sports or ParkRun.
The low pressure remains in place with a moderate SW wind over England and Wales. It will also become windy for Northern Ireland with a fresh southwesterly. The day will bring blustery showers with bright or sunny spells. There could be hail and again snow for the Scottish and Welsh mountains. Further away from the low centre, there will be fewer showers for southern England, with temperatures of 12 to 14C. It will feel warm enough in any sheltered sunshine but cool as the showers pass by.
Weekend sport
The Grand National course at Aintree has been watered this week after the warm weather, with the going on Thursday - ‘Good to Soft’. There will be some showery rain overnight for Merseyside but not much. For racegoers, they will be hoping to dodge the showers, especially those in fancy hats and outfits. In the blustery wind it will feel cool, more like 7C.
In Augusta, Georgia USA, the weather for the Masters has been described as ‘shockingly fantastic’. The four-day golf championship is enjoying fine and sunny weather with an absence of rain on the Augusta National course continuing for the weekend as high pressure remains over southeastern states.
By the evening, there will still be a few clusters of sharp showers running in from the west but generally, there will be more settled bright weather about in the southeast for the end of the day. The rainband will still be lingering over Shetland for the end of Saturday.
Overnight, it will feel cool with temperatures in towns and cities around 4 or 5C but lower in rural spots. It will remain breezy for Northern Ireland and Scotland, but winds will be very light for London and SE England.
Sunday
Close to the low pressure, there will be a host of showers with strong southerly winds for the far northwest of Scotland, even gales for exposed parts. There will be bands of showers on Sunday but longer spells of bright or sunny spells. You might miss most of the showers or catch several. It will be a rather hit-and-miss kind of day but it will feel pleasant enough in any sunshine.
If you are looking at a weather app it might show several showers but bear in mind that there will be lots of fine weather inbetween. With temperatures around 10 to 15C, it won’t be anything like the warmth of midweek, which was around 17 to 26C.
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