Heatwave ebbs as players warm up for Wimbledon
OUR capricious weather doesn’t always get its timing right, as those who have planned a summer wedding will know all too well.
But music lovers at Glastonbury and cricket fans following the World Cup can have few complaints this weekend – though the start of Wimbledon may see something a little less idyllic.
Yesterday was the peak of the mini-heatwave in the UK, with temperatures getting as high as 93F (34C) in south east England.
This pales next to the temperatures breaking 104F (40C) in western and central Europe this past week, as hot air from the Sahara has swept up over the continent.
Today, the prevailing wind here will change to a westerly, blowing in a low pressure system from the Atlantic.
The breeze will be fresher, so an end for the time being to those humid nights when it is hard to get to sleep. But there will also be more cloud, some showers and even heavier rain in north-west Scotland.
There will also be a noticeable fall in the mercury. We are back to seasonal norms which, with the sun as high in the sky as it gets in the northern hemisphere, means a very respectable 75F (24C) in London, 73F (23C) in Norwich and Hull, and 66F (19C) in Belfast and Aberdeen.
That low pressure will remain in charge as the players take to the tennis courts of south-west London tomorrow.
With the wind shifting once again, to a north-westerly, it may even be a notch or two cooler, and there will be plenty of cloud, but no need, as yet, for the roof over centre court.
And as the week progresses, along with, we hope, the British contenders, high pressure from the south-west will start building in, settling things down, banishing the rain, calming the breeze and seeing the temperature begin to climb again in most parts.
In the north of Scotland, though, cooler, more unsettled conditions may remain, dispelling memories of what have, these past few days, been positively balmy conditions up there.