Pressure Rising As Autumn Begins

A new month and meteorologically speaking a new season. This after a summer that started well and then turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, so will September begin the same? After the locally heavy showers of yesterday, there'll be fewer showers today, and as pressure slowly builds from the West, it'll become mainly dry and warmer into the coming weekend.

It's a chilly start, with a touch of grass frost first thing in some vulnerable northern valleys. Some other rural areas are also waking up to mist or fog patches, but these will quickly clear. For most, though it's a fine start with some sunshine, there are a few showers mostly in coastal areas and around The Channel Islands. Many places will have a dry morning, but as cloud builds later a few more showers will develop, mostly across South East Scotland and to the East of the Pennines.

By the afternoon a few of the showers over Lothian and The Borders, East Anglia and eastern England could be heavy, perhaps with local hail and thunder. Such is the nature of showers though that some places will miss them and there'll continue to be sunny intervals. Elsewhere the showers will be isolated, with much of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the West having a dry, quite pleasant day.

A West or North Westerly wind will be mostly light, but perhaps gusty temporarily in any heavier showers. Although feeling nice in the sunshine, with the wind coming from a chilly direction, it won't be particularly warm. As a result, temperatures will get no higher 14 to 17C in the North and about 18 or 19C locally 20 or 21C in the South.

There'll continue to be a scattering of showers into the first part of evening across eastern areas, but they'll fade after dark, becoming confined to the far South East and coasts of East Anglia exposed to a northerly breeze. This'll allow skies to clear and with light winds, a few mist or fog patches will form later in the night in rural areas where it'll also turn quite cold. The thermometer could even fall low enough again for a touch of grass frost in some Scottish glens and a few vulnerable valleys further South, as temperatures by dawn fall to 2 to 6C in rural areas and 7 to 11C in towns and cities.

Saturday sees a ridge of high pressure, giving most parts a fine day.

Early mist and patchy fog in rural areas will soon clear, and then after a chilly start, it'll be a sunny morning. Further sunny spells are likely into the afternoon, but some cloud will build to perhaps give the odd shower over East Anglia and South East, but for the bulk of the country it'll be dry. The exception will be Northern Ireland, where approaching Atlantic systems will bring cloud from the West with Tyrone and Fermanagh perhaps seeing patchy rain towards evening. Here together with West Scotland, there'll be a freshening southerly breeze, but elsewhere, winds will continue to be light. This'll make it feel quite pleasant in the sunshine, but despite this, temperatures get no higher than 15 to 17C in the North and 18 to 20C further South.

A dry evening and night will follow across most of England, Wales and Scotland, with clearing skies in central and eastern areas. Here it could turn chilly again in the countryside, but with a southerly breeze developing later, temperatures shouldn't fall below 6 to 8C. Across Northern Ireland however, it'll be unsettled with rain at times. Cloud will also spread to Wales and the South West overnight, where Cornwall and more western areas could also see some patchy rain before morning. It will be milder here though in a fresher southerly wind, with temperatures unlikely to fall below 9 to 12C.