UK weather

Headline:

Rather warm and windy today.

Today:

Grey skies at first for many areas with outbreaks of drizzle. Skies brightening in the south this afternoon and turning rather warm. Winds strengthening with gales in the west by the afternoon. Heavy rain in the west later.

Tonight:

Heavy rain moves east across the UK overnight. Coastal gales continue in the west, but gradually ease in the early hours. Patchy rain in the south and rather mild.

Wednesday:

Rain moves east in the morning, clearing in the afternoon. Sunny spells and heavy showers follow in the west. Windy but rather warm in the east.

Outlook for Thursday to Saturday:

Turning a little fresher from Thursday with showers or longer spells of rain at times, mainly in the west. Warm sunny spells in between and cooler nights.

High pressure will likely be in place across much of central and southern UK through the first few days of this period. This means plenty of dry weather to be had, albeit with some chilly nights and overnight and morning fog in places. In the north, a rather more changeable pattern will continue, with occasional rain and often breezier conditions. Towards the end of this period, high pressure may have declined somewhat, allowing lower pressure to become rather more dominant, this probably centred somewhere to the west or south of the UK, though its proximity to the UK is more uncertain. However, there is a chance of some rain developing across parts of the south by mid-month. Overall, temperatures remaining above average overall.

Quite an uncertain period of weather, with earlier signals of reliably wetter than normal weather now looking less likely. That being said, the middle of the month could be a quite a changeable period of weather overall, with the wettest weather most likely towards parts of the west and possibly south. It is quite plausible that marked regional variation in rainfall amounts will occur. Temperatures are likely to remain broadly above average overall.