Ripe weather

Headline:

Rain clearing to sunny spells and showers, heavy in places.

Today:

Early cloud and rain quickly clearing eastwards. Dry and bright for a time thereafter but showers developing by mid-morning. During the afternoon these are likely to turn heavy and perhaps thundery in places, and be accompanied by gusty winds. Maximum temperature 26 °C.

Tonight:

Showers soon dying out this evening to leave most places dry with prolonged spells of sunshine. Remaining dry with light winds and largely clear skies overnight. Minimum temperature 11 °C.

Sunday:

Dry on Sunday with plenty of sunshine during the morning. However, patchy cloud will develop by the afternoon, dissipating again in the evening. Feeling warm with light winds. Maximum temperature 27 °C.

Outlook for Monday to Wednesday:

Dry Monday and Tuesday with plenty of sunshine and becoming very warm. Remaining very warm on Wednesday but cloudier with the risk of a thunderstorm.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC+1) on Sat 20 Jul 2019

This period will tend to see a northwest to southeast split in the weather across the UK, with northwestern parts experiencing spells of rain, which could be heavy at times, as well as some periods of strong wind bringing a risk of coastal gales. By contrast, southern and southeastern parts of the UK should see much drier and warmer weather, which could be hot and rather humid at times, especially in the first half of the next week. Thunderstorms could develop as any hot, settled weather breaks down from the west. Beyond that, the forecast is more uncertain, but overall the northwest to southeast split will most probably continue. The south and southeast are likely to see some rain but it will be less frequent than in the northwest.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC+1) on Sat 20 Jul 2019

As we move into early August, the final month of the meteorological summer, confidence is low in the forecast with no one single weather pattern looking to dominate. As is often the case in summer, this could well mean plenty of fine, dry weather, interspersed with occasional rain or thundery outbreaks, leading to marked local variations in rainfall. Temperatures are likely to be above average, perhaps more especially in the south and west.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC+1) on Sat 20 Jul 2019