Milder conditions encourage social time outdoors
BY COMPARISON with last weekend – and Saturday, in particular, which was the wettest day across the UK since 1891 – it has been a mild enough end to the week. And that benign mixture of on-off sun, plenty of cloud and only the occasional shower will persist into today, allowing those in parts of the country under more severe lockdown measures the welcome chance to meet friends in the garden. Take your chance while it lasts, though, because the rain is set to return in the coming week.
High pressure to the north of the UK will keep our weather settled and unchanged for today. That means there is a chance most of us may see a little bit of drizzle, as well as bursts of sunshine. Except, that is, down the eastern flank of the country, where a weak weather front means there is a greater prospect of showers anywhere from Edinburgh down to Kent.
The temperatures will be lower than yesterday – with Plymouth in the sheltered south west doing best, at 57F (14C), London and Cardiff 55F (13C), the English Midlands and North West 52F (11C), and Glasgow and Edinburgh 50F (10C). The north of Scotland may see some more persistent rain as evening approaches.
By tomorrow, it is all change, as the high pressure is displaced by a low from the west, bringing its by now familiar autumnal bundle of winds and rain, principally to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Elsewhere a change of wind direction, to a south-westerly, will at least mean the airflow is a mild one, pushing temperatures up a little.
The middle part of the week will see the rain become more widespread, and heavy in places. But there is a glimmer of hope at the end of this particular tunnel with the prospect of high pressure returning as next weekend approaches to settle things down and provide us with more opportunities to escape the Covid gloom by wrapping up and gathering outdoors.