Increasingly warm & humid, best of the sunshine in the south & east - where it will be hot. Cloudier with rain in the north and west.
There will be a large contrast in weather fortunes across Britain today and tomorrow, with cloudy skies, cooler temperatures and outbreaks of rain at times for northern areas and initially western areas, while in the south and east it will be very warm and increasingly humid with plenty of sunshine. It will be hot towards the southeast – where we could see the temperature reach 33C on Friday.
Big heat over near continent spreading across SE UK next few days
It will be generally drier for all over the weekend, with sunshine more widespread, though Scotland could see a few showers on Saturday, while thicker cloud and more general rain looks to affect northern Scotland on Sunday.
For now, it’s generally a gloomy start across northern and western areas, with some patchy rain or drizzle affecting southern Scotland, NW England, N. Ireland and west Wales – with some mist and fog over the hills and coasts. Though across the far NE of Scotland there is some sunshine to the north and east of higher ground. It’s a sunnier story, with blue skies to start the day across SE England, East Midlands, Lincolnshire and East Anglia.
It will tend to brighten up through the day for those areas which have had a dull start across England and Wales, away from western coastal areas – which may stay gloomy with some drizzle at times. The clearest skies across SE England, Midlands and East Anglia – so here will be the highest temperatures. Staying cloudy across Northern Ireland and western Scotland, with some patchy rain or drizzle before more persistent and heavy rain moves in across N. Ireland and SW Scotland this evening. Eastern Scotland should stay generally dry and sunny, though the odd sharp shower developing can’t be ruled out this afternoon.
Where we hold on to the cloudier skies in the northwest and far west, temperatures pegged back to 18-20C, in the sunnier skies temperatures reaching 21-25C across eastern Scotland and northern England, 26-29C across east Wales, central, southern and eastern England. All areas will feel humid though, with generally light winds.
Outbreaks of rain, perhaps heavy, pushing northeast from Northern Ireland across southern Scotland this evening along a waving cold front, the rain tending to turn shower overnight, perhaps affecting NW England too. Elsewhere it should stay dry with clear spells. A warm and muggy night in the southwesterly flow, temperatures perhaps falling no lower than 15-18C away from the far north.
A cold front will slowly slide south from southern Scotland into northern England and north Wales on Friday, bringing a band of cloudier skies and outbreaks of showery rain, eventually reaching the south Wales, Midlands and parts of eastern England in the afternoon, though tending to fragment as the front weakens.
To the north, sunny spells and also scattered sharp showers, perhaps thundery, developing across Scotland and Northern Ireland, thicker cloud with perhaps some rain into the far northwest of Scotland. To the south of the front, hot sunshine across southern England and East Anglia. Where emperatures will reach 29-31, perhaps 32-33C in the London area. Elsewhere generally warm, reaching 20-23C in the north and west, 23-27C across central and eastern areas.
Plenty of sunshine and hot across the south this weekend, warm, sunny and mostly dry for northern areas too, as an area of high pressure builds in from the southwest across all of Britain. Saturday may see a few showers develop across Scotland, but they will be hit-and-miss, then Sunday may see thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain move in across northern Scotland, but otherwise much of the UK will stay dry over the weekend, best of the sunshine across England and Wales. Temperatures reaching 28-30C across southern England and East Anglia both days, 25-27C across Wales and the Midlands. Somewhat cooler further north, reaching 22-24C across northern England, 17-20C across Scotland and Northern Ireland.
High pressure building in from the Azores this weekend, will ensure fine and mostly dry weather. Image: Met Office
Fine, warm and dry weather to start next week too across the south, cloud and rain spreading down across northern areas on Monday. There are hints from a few models that an area of thundery rain may spread up from the southwest on Tuesday across England and Wales, before fresher conditions spread in from the west mid-week, but low confidence on this rain for England and Wales on Tuesday for now.
