Holy Week brings milder weather but more rain
AFTER a week of bruised skies and ferocious gusts of wind, our weather is settling down into something kinder in the build-up to Easter. And that begins this weekend, as the northern fringes of storm Diego that has been battering northern France and the English Channel blow away and mild, southerly air moves slowly up over most of the country.
Today will see that process most marked in southerly and westerly areas, with temperatures of up to 57F (14C) in South Wales and south-eastern England. This draft of warm air is being sucked in by the winds that are accompanying a large area of low pressure anchored out in the Atlantic. So as well as pushing up the mercury, there may also be cloud and even some rain all along the western seaboard. Meanwhile in central and eastern parts, there will be more sunshine and less chance of rain, but the arrival of mild air will be delayed, leaving East Anglia at 52F (11C) and Edinburgh 50F (10C) on the chilly side.
As Holy Week gets under way, the influence of that area of low pressure grows stronger so the rainfall will be more widespread, but at the same time that feed of warmth from the south will become more dominant too, so temperatures will rise as high tomorrow as 63F (17C) in London and the Home Counties. And that broad pattern will continue as we approach the holiday weekend.
Low pressure looks likely to stay close to the west, though high pressure will be pushing in from the east. The threat of rain therefore remains, but after a chilly start to April, the notoriously fickle season of spring appears set, as things stand, to deliver a mild Easter, with above average temperatures in almost all parts.