Met Office daily weather: Cloudy and feeling cooler

The UK is set for a varied spell of weather midweek, with a mix of sunshine, showers, and cooler conditions in some areas.

Wednesday will begin largely cloudy across southern parts of the UK, with rain and showers mainly affecting central and western regions. Some showers may drift eastwards through the morning and early afternoon, with a slight chance of heavier bursts or isolated thunderstorms. However, conditions are expected to improve later in the day as the main band of rain clears southwards, giving way to sunny spells.

Further north, much of Scotland and northern England will enjoy a brighter day with plenty of sunshine and light winds. However, cloud and patchy light rain are forecast to edge into the far northeast later. Temperatures will be widely warm away from the North Sea coast, where cloud and breezes will keep things cooler.

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The warmest conditions are expected from the Midlands northwards, with highs of 22–24°C inland and to the south and west of high ground. In contrast, southwestern and central southern England will see lower maximum temperatures due to lingering cloud cover.

Wednesday night will bring a band of cloud and occasional rain moving south across northern and eastern England from Scotland. Clearer skies on either side of this band may lead to fog patches in the south and localised frost in the north. The far north and northeast will turn colder and windier, with scattered showers.

Outlook for Thursday

Thursday will be mostly dry with variable cloud and sunny spells, especially in the west and southwest. A weakening band of cloud and patchy rain will drift south and southwest across England and Wales, breaking into a few showers by afternoon. Eastern and northeastern coasts may see a few light showers, with breezy and rather cool conditions persisting there.

Met Office presenter and meteorologist, Alex Deakin, said: "Wednesday will see more cloud for Wales and Southwest England, bringing an increasing chance of some showery rain. There’s potential for some of those showers across the southeast, maybe even one or two heavy, slow-moving, thundery showers over the Midlands. But again, for much of Northern England, most of Scotland, looking dry.

"It will be a drier day for Northern Ireland on Wednesday with some good spells of sunshine. There’s still a breeze coming down from the north, so some of those North Sea coasts will certainly be cooler and potentially staying cloudy, and it will be cooler than Tuesday across the southwest with more cloud here.

"Temperatures are back much closer to average. Those showers are going to be hit and miss. By the time we get to Thursday, high pressure is still in control to the north, but we’ve got another weather front sinking its way southwards."

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"There’s not much on it in terms of rain, but it is introducing colder air behind it as it sinks southwards and will probably bring quite a lot of cloud on Thursday over northern England, southern Scotland, and that’ll sink south over the Midlands, East Anglia, and the southeast.

"Generally a brighter, sunnier day for South Wales and southwest England, and much of northern Britain will be fair on Thursday. However, there will be a dip in temperatures, so it is going to be turning quite a bit fresher."

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