Summer’s gone soggy
Torrents of rain from Atlantic ... just in time for school holidays!
IF you were hoping the hot summer would continue, think again. For the first full week of the school holidays is expected to be a cool washout
That is because a ‘chain of depressions’ is lined up over the Atlantic, forecasters warn.
Three low pressure systems are expected to blow in from the west over the next few days, bringing up to an inch of rain in just a few hours to some areas. The first depression should drift eastwards over the UK today, followed by another on Wednesday and a third on Friday which may threaten any outdoor plans for the weekend, too.
Temperatures will struggle to reach 22C (71F). The changeable weather means it will feel more like autumn during what is supposed to be the hottest period of the year.
Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said: ‘ There is a chain of depressions coming in from the Atlantic which will have varying impacts on the UK across the next few days. If you take it from today to the end of the week, then low pressure is in charge.
‘It’s not necessarily the best looking weather if you’ve got school holiday plans. I would say keep waterproofs at hand because there will be rain at times. The day that looks least desirable at the moment is Wednesday.
‘Most parts will see heavy rain at various points of the day. On other days there will be rain around but in the form of showers, so it’ll be a bit hit and miss.’ The general rule for the week seems to be ‘if it’s OK today then there’s a good chance of rain tomorrow’, he said.
The highest temperatures today are likely to be in central and western areas, although there will be a northerly breeze.
Friday should see a pleasant start in most the country before the bad weather sweeps in later in the day. The unsettled weather is being caused by the jet stream, a system of strong winds that blows across the North Atlantic, sitting quite far south, Mr Keates said.
‘It is responsible for bringing our weather. It is also broadly speaking the boundary between warm air from the south and cold air from the north. Over the next few days it will be sitting pretty much over the UK. It’s how low pressure systems are brought to us. Some days it will be further south and other days it will be further north.’
This contrasts with last week, when the temperature reached 28.8C ( 83.8F) in Otterbourne, Hampshire, on Tuesday. This time last year, Britain had just been basking in a heatwave, hitting 33.5C (92.3F) in Oxfordshire.