Storms give way to a final flourish from summer
IT WAS the turbulent remnants of tropical storms on the other side of the Atlantic that shaped our weather for the worse last week, but this weekend the good old British summer is back.
While southern parts basked in sunshine yesterday, a cold front was slowly making its way across Northern Ireland and Scotland. Overnight, it will continue its progress southwards, bringing a band of cloud and showers to northern and central England, but Wales, southern England and East Anglia will all continue to enjoy this spirit-lifting Indian summer of clear blue skies. The south-eastern corner of England will see anything up to 26C (79F), with 20C (68F) down in Devon. Further north, though, Leeds will make just 16C (61F) and Glasgow and Edinburgh 14C (57F), the northwesterly wind that comes in the wake of the cold front pushing down the temperature in contrast to the warming south-westerlies soothing areas further south.
By Monday, however, the cold front will be on the march again, pushing away any remaining mild air and bringing something fresher to all parts. The north may see more rain, but everywhere the mercury will be tumbling before starting to rise again later in the week as high pressure builds. It will suck in warm air from continental Europe to ensure that these hazy, belated days of summer continue rolling, so much so that it may even start to get humid in the south of England, with early morning fog before the sun drives it away.
And before it makes its curtain call, let’s just give this year’s summer a round of applause for nurturing our national butterfly population – 2019 saw the once-in-a-decade arrival of clouds of painted lady butterflies. Their numbers were up thirty-fold, according to the Big Butterfly Count. Doing very well, too, were peacock butterflies, which saw a 235 per cent rise, and red admirals, up 138 per cent.