Enjoy rain while you can as hotter conditions return
IT HAS been a dry old July up to now, and the south-west of England has been particularly starved of rainfall, with just two per cent of average figures for this time of the month. But that total will be turbocharged by a band of wetter weather that arrived there on Friday and spread out over much of the country yesterday.
For gardeners, it will be a case of enjoy-it-while-you-can because today sees a return to hotter, drier conditions, with the ridge of high pressure that has been heading in the from the west since yesterday evening expanding to give all of us a bright, blue start. The breeze is from the south-west, so plenty of holidayenhancing warmth being drawn up from the Azores.
London and Norwich will reach 75F (24C), Cardiff and Birmingham 72F (22C) and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast 68F (20C). At Royal Portrush on the Antrim coast, competitors who start earlier in their final round in The Open will have the best of the conditions. By afternoon, low pressure will return and could bring rain.
Tomorrow will see that low head off into Scotland, where it will be showery and cool. Further south, though, warm air will be heading our way from continental Europe, where France is going to see temperatures topping 104F (40C) once again. By Tuesday the South East and East Anglia will peak at 90F (32C) on a sticky southern breeze, but as the week progresses the mercury will take a tumble.
The cause is an anticipated fluctuation in the Jet Stream. It is going to dip down below us, opening the UK up to cooler air from the north. Not too cool, though, to prevent us joining the Big Butterfly Count.