What does this forecast mean?

Find out how to use Met Office forecast tables. This page explains our weather symbols and forecast data, which will help you get a more accurate reading of the forecast.

Date and time

The forecast table gives you an overview of the weather forecast at a specific location for the next seven days. We provide a long-range 28-day forecast for the UK as a whole, which you can find underneath the forecast table, below the map and flood warnings.

The time displayed in the table shows the forecast data for that specific moment in time, on the hour. So, for example, a ‘Sunny day’ symbol at 10:00am means that we expect there to be sun at 10:00am. If there is a ‘Heavy rain’ symbol at 11:00am on the same day, we expect it will start raining between 10:00am and 11:00am, and it will be raining at 11:00am.

‘Now’ refers to the most recent hour mark. So, if you looked at the forecast at 10:32am, the weather symbol for ‘Now’ would show you the forecast data for 10:00am.

Weather symbols

Clear night

Sunny day

Partly cloudy (night)

Sunny intervals

Mist

Fog

Cloudy

Overcast

Light rain shower (night)

Light rain shower (day)

Drizzle

Light rain

Heavy rain shower (night)

Heavy rain shower (day)

Heavy rain

Sleet shower (night)

Sleet shower (day)

Sleet

Hail shower (night)

Hail shower (day)

Hail

Light snow shower (night)

Light snow shower (day)

Light snow

Heavy snow shower (night)

Heavy snow shower (day)

Heavy snow

Thunder shower (night)

Thunder shower (day)

Thunder

Chance of precipitation

For example, a 70% chance of rain represents a 7 in 10 chance that precipitation will fall at some point during that period.

Chance of precipitation represents how likely it is that rain (or other precipitation: sleet, snow, hail, drizzle etc.) will fall from the sky at a certain time.

Temperature

The number in the coloured bars represents the air temperature in the units selected in Settings (Celsius or Fahrenheit)

Feels like

Feels like temperature takes into account wind speed and humidity to give a more representative indication of how the temperature will feel.

Wind direction and speed

The speed represents the average wind speed expected at that time, i.e. the mean wind speed you may encounter (in reality the wind will strengthen and lull constantly above and below this value).

The arrow shows the direction that the wind is blowing, and the letter represents the direction the wind is blowing from (on a standard 16-point compass rose).

For example, an arrow pointing upwards indicates a wind blowing from the south to the north, along with the letter S to indicate that it is a southerly wind.

Arrow pointing upwards with letter S

NNW would indicate a wind blowing from the north northwest.

Wind gust

This value represents the highest wind speed that you should encounter at that time, as the winds peak, and then lull again.

Strong winds are shown in bold and represent speeds of 25 knots (or 29 miles per hour) or above.

Visibility

Visibility measures the distance at which an object can be clearly seen.

Visibility index	Visibility in metres
VP (Very Poor)	Less than 1,000 metres
P (Poor)	Between 1,001 and 4,000 metres
M (Medium)	Between 4,001 and 10,000 metres
G (Good)	Between 10,001 and 20,000 metres
VG (Very Good)	Between 20,001 and 40,000 metres
E (Excellent)	Greater than 40,000 metres

UV

UV index	UV summary	Exposure category
		No significant UV
		Low
		Moderate
		High
		Very high
		Extreme
		No data

Air pollution

Symbol	Category
	No significant pollution
	Low
	Moderate
	High
	Very high
	No data

Pollen

Symbol	Category
	No significant pollen
	Low
	Moderate
	High
	Very high
	No data

Pressure symbols

Cold Front

The leading edge of an advancing colder air mass. Its passage is usually marked by cloud and precipitation, followed by a drop in temperature and/or humidity.

Warm Front

The leading edge of an advancing warmer air mass, the passage of which commonly brings cloud and precipitation followed by increasing temperature and/or humidity.

Occluded front (or 'occlusion')

Occlusions form when the cold front of a depression catches up with the warm front, lifting the warm air between the fronts into a narrow wedge above the surface. Occluded fronts bring cloud and precipitation.

Developing cold front

Developing warm front

Developing cold/warm front (frontogenesis)

Represents a front that is forming due to increase in temperature gradient at the surface.

Weakening cold front

Weakening warm front

Weakening cold/warm front (frontolysis)

Represents a front that is losing its identity, usually due to rising pressure. Cloud and precipitation becomes increasingly fragmented.

Upper cold front

Upper warm front

Upper cold/warm front

Upper fronts represent the boundaries between air masses at levels above the surface. For instance, the passage of an upper warm front may bring warmer air at an altitude of 10,000 ft, without bringing a change of air mass at the surface.

Quasi-stationary front

A stationary or slow-moving boundary between two air masses. Cloud and precipitation are usually associated.

Isobars

Contours of equal mean sea-level pressure (MSLP), measured in hectopascals (hPa). MSLP maxima (anticyclones) and minima (depressions) are marked by the letters H (High) and L (Low) on weather charts.

Thickness lines

Pressure decreases with altitude, and thickness measures the difference in height between two standard pressure levels in the atmosphere. It is proportional to the mean temperature of this layer of air, so is a useful way of describing the temperature of an airmass.

Weather charts commonly show contour lines of 1,000-500 hPa thickness, which represent the depth (in decametres, where 1 dam = 10 m) of the layer between the 1,000 hPa and 500 hPa pressure levels. Cold, polar air has low thickness, and values of 528 dam or less frequently bring snow to the UK. Conversely, warm, tropical air has high thickness, and values in excess of 564 dam across the UK often indicate a heatwave.

Trough

An elongated area of relatively low surface pressure. The troughs marked on weather charts may also represent an area of low thickness (thickness trough), or a perturbation in the upper troposphere (upper trough). All are associated with increasing cloud and risk of precipitation.

Convergence line

A slow-moving trough, which is often parallel to the isobars and tends to be persistent over many hours. They are quite common in cold northerly outbreaks down the Irish Sea, affecting west Wales, Devon and Cornwall in particular, but can be found in other areas also. This convergence line can give hours of persistent precipitation over very localised areas, whilst a few miles down the road it is relatively dry, leading to some heavy snowfall/rainfall. In summer the convergence lines are not as easy to forecast, but then can still occur due to sea-breeze convergence, and are over the land, whilst in winter they are over the sea.