No escaping the wet as Callum heralds autumn
FOR those in eastern parts who escaped the heavy downpours that made yesterday such a miserable start to the weekend across the rest of the country, this morning is your turn to share some of the pain.
Pulses of rain, caused by the presence off the coast of Ireland of Storm Callum, a deep area of low pressure, will spread to all parts before the skies start to brighten later. For the rest of the country, it will be a calmer, drier, but colder day from the off.
There may have been a dusting of snow overnight in Scotland’s Grampians, but elsewhere expect much lighter winds (on Friday, Callum generated speeds of 70mph) and very little rain. As westerly winds displace that warming airflow from the south, though, the mercury will tumble. Expect just 59F (15C) in the South East and East Anglia (compared with 75F or 24C yesterday), 55F (13C) in Birmingham and 54F (12C) in Belfast and Glasgow.
As the working week begins, it will feel much more autumnal. A series of low pressure systems are lining up in the Atlantic to keep most of Britain at near-average temperatures. Only in the south-eastern corner might high pressure assert itself, dispel the gloom, and draw in warmer air from southern Europe.
But the next seven days hold nothing too extreme, on current forecasts, for which we should be grateful after a week in which 12 people lost their lives in eastern Majorca when torrential rain caused flash floods and there was widespread damage done to north-western Florida by Hurricane Michael, which brought with it 155mph winds.
It has now bowled off into the Atlantic and may impact on our weather in the early part of the week. Its power, though, will be almost spent, with yet more heavy rain likely to be the worst it can inflict on us.