The heat has finally cleared from eastern parts, so the whole of the UK and Ireland is now into a fresher and at times, wetter spell of weather as (meteorological) summer draws to a close.
With the arrival of cooler, fresher air off the Atlantic, sleeping has certainly become much more comfortable. It's unsettled though, especially in the North and West, where the next few days will be wet and windy at times. Across the East and South, it'll be drier and warmer, but here too some rain is expected on Saturday to end the meteorological summer on a wet note.
Wet surfaces from overnight rain followed by clearing skies lead to mist and patchy fog first thing in some rural areas. But any still left will soon clear with most of England and Wales waking to a bright start. There'll be sunny spells especially at first, but cloud will build with a few showers developing later, although most parts will stay dry. Towards Cumbria however, cloud will increase more generally bringing some rain. Eastern Scotland will also begin bright, but rain some heavy already in the West will spread to most of Scotland, with the rain lighter and patchy towards Lothian and The Borders. Northern Ireland sees rain in places at first clearing to sunny intervals and scattered showers, followed more rain moving in from the West later.
Light winds at first in the South will freshen from the South West, becoming strong or gale force over exposed parts of North and West Scotland and Northern Ireland for a while. This together with the rain will prevent temperatures from rising above 15 to 18C here, but over England and much of Wales, you can expect 19 to 22C, with 23 or 24C possible over sheltered parts of East Anglia and to the North of London.
Much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Cumbria sees further occasional rain or showers during the evening and after dark. The showers will be heavy, especially in the North and West accompanied by a fresh or strong South West wind that'll continue to gust over gale force in exposed areas. Clwyd and parts of Lancashire bordering Irish Sea coasts may also have more cloud, perhaps giving patchy drizzle. But elsewhere, it'll be mainly dry. In the East and South in particular where winds will be lighter, skies will break to give clear intervals in a mild night, when temperatures generally shouldn't fall below 11 to 14C.
While the North of Scotland and perhaps Northern Ireland may be brighter and fresher with fewer showers and lighter breezes for a time, much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Cumbria will see further rain on Friday. This'll become persistent and heavy particularly over Dumfries and Galloway, where weather warnings of amounts in excess of 40mm have already been issued. Remaining parts of North West England and the North and West of Wales will also see more cloud and some showers. But elsewhere it'll be drier and brighter with sunny intervals these mostly in the East and South.
A brisk South Westerly wind will continue to give strong or gale-force gusts in the West and in exposed areas, with top temperatures 21 or 22C towards the South East and 18 to 20C more generally. Over much of Scotland and Northern Ireland however, 14 to 17C is about the best you can expect.
The North and West continue to see further outbreaks of rain heavy in places on Friday evening. Although later in the night, Northern Ireland and the West of Scotland may see a change to clearer, quieter but colder conditions with fewer showers. Much of England and Wales should stay dry, with skies continuing to break at times, especially in the East. Later in the night though it'll probably be turning wet and windy in the West. A southerly wind will freshen to become strong in the West where gales are likely in places again.
It'll be another mild night over England and Wales where temperatures fall no lower than 11 to 15C. But in the colder conditions over Northern Ireland and West Scotland later in the night, some sheltered Highland glens could see the thermometer falling as low as 5 or 6C.
