UK weather

Headline:

Wet and windy at times in the northwest, drier elsewhere.

This Evening and Tonight:

Periods of heavy rain arriving in Northern Ireland and western Scotland this evening. Persistent heavy rain developing in northwest England and southwest Scotland by the morning and turning windier. Skies remaining clearer further southeast and becoming chilly with patchy fog.

Friday:

Spells of wet and windy weather across Scotland and Northern Ireland with some particularly heavy rain developing across southwest Scotland and Cumbria later. Rather warm with sunny spells elsewhere.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Showery rain in the south dying away on Saturday with sunny spells developing for most. Thereafter, windy with some rain in the north, largely fine and rather warm further south.

A band of cloud and increasingly patchy rain will likely come south early in the period with a ridge of high pressure then bringing a spell of mostly dry and fresher conditions, some chilly nights possible. Broadly changeable weather patterns look to continue through to the middle of October with areas of low pressure most likely to pass to the northwest of the UK with higher pressure across the south. So further rain and strong winds at times, mainly focused across the northwest, while southern areas see more in the way of dry weather. Temperatures close to or rather above average on the whole, but still scope for some unseasonably warm weather across the south.

The second half of October will probably maintain a changeable pattern overall with showers or longer spells of rain often moving in from the Atlantic. This means the wettest and at times windiest weather is more likely in the west and northwest, and relatively drier conditions more likely towards the south and east. With a westerly type considered most likely, this would support temperatures remaining close to or a little above average overall. However, there is a chance that more slowly evolving weather patterns develop, which could either lead to longer drier spells more widely or rainfall accumulating in climatologically drier areas.