Rain is on the way, but the heatwave is set to continue
AFTER the thunderstorms, the heat returns. This weekend the scorching weather resumes in earnest. By tomorrow it will be 28C (82.4F) in London. So far, so normal, for the great, endless summer of 2018. But what’s this on the horizon …?
In recent days the remnants of Hurricane Chris have been moving northeast across the Atlantic and in the process opening the door for a more changeable weather pattern in the UK, with the jet stream shifting southwards.
This means an increasing likelihood of rain. You know, the fat, wet drops that used to fall from the sky whenever you lit the barbecue or stepped outside for a walk. Supposedly there has been some of it falling over the past week in parts of the country, but not wherever Weather Watch has been standing.
Yes, proper bona fide rain may be on the way! And, after six long weeks of dry weather, boy, do the parched moonscapes that once resembled our lawns, parks and moors need it.
This week’s latest drought news is that the yellowing grass is now becoming so sparse it is starting to reveal remains of ancient monuments.
In Wales alone, the foundations of an early medieval cemetery in south Gwynedd, a Roman villa in the Vale of Glamorgan and a Roman farm and fort have started poking out like ribs through the skin of a famished cow.
Still, welcome as next week’s rains might be, they are only looking like showers. And beyond that, weather models suggest higher than normal pressure for the rest of the summer.
This is what they told us would happen, I suppose. The new norm will be long sweltering summers, hotter than anything that has gone previously. Although what about the fact the last few years have passed in a sodden murk of unseasonable rain?
Our climate is changing in profound – yet mysterious – ways.