So long for now, dry days: the rain is on its way back
If life for some has been feeling a bit like more of the same, day after day, then once again the weather has been matching our mood.
Persistent high pressure has ushered in an extended, settled run of dry, sunny, still days, with cold nights and foggy, misty mornings. But there is about to be a big upheaval and for some it will start today.
As that dominant high pressure slowly but surely slips off southeastwards towards the continent, up in north-west Scotland a weather system will arrive bringing cloud, rain and a brisk breeze. For much of the rest of the country, the old regime remains in charge, with another chilly start to the day, followed by a mixture of sunshine and cloud. Yet the usual order in terms of temperatures is reversed, with the south and south-east of England down at 7C (45F), and the mercury rising further north, with 9C (48F) in Belfast and 11C (52F) in Aberdeen.
Overnight tonight into tomorrow, that rain and wind sweeps into all western parts from the Atlantic. By Tuesday, it really will be picking up in force and impact, with gales and heavy rain as a deep low covers the whole country, the first of a series that will make next week gloomily wet and grey. What is causing such conditions is our old friend the Jet Stream, that ribbon of air currents in the high atmosphere that blows west to east across the Atlantic. This coming week it will be aiming its full might at the UK.
Shut indoors, it may be best to cast our minds forward to what it to come as lockdown is slowly and carefully relaxed. Long-range weather forecasts always carry a health warning, but present projections are suggesting a heatwave for the end of May and the start of June, just as we are once more able to enjoy our great outdoors with families and friends.