Jet Stream makes it sticky with odd stormy outburst
IT HAS been a wet week in many parts of the UK, especially north-western Scotland, but the improvement that has been building in since Friday with high pressure pulling in a plume of warmer southerly winds from Africa should last into today. Enjoy it while you can, however, because the week ahead is looking much more unsettled, with humidity in the south, rain in the north, and even a threat of thunder and lightning.
In some parts of southern England overnight, they may have been some stormy weather as the humidity in that warm air from across the Channel shakes things up a little. As the day dawns, it will be noticeably cooler in some parts, such as East Anglia, where 22C (72F) yesterday turns into 17C (63F) today. South Wales, though, will see a very summery 23C (73F), while up the central spine of the UK expect 19C (66F) anywhere from Birmingham to Glasgow and Edinburgh. There is a chance of showers in the South but they should be short lived.
As Monday ushers in the working week, low pressure out to the north west will make inroads into the dominant high pressure and again set off some showers as cooler air meets the warm flow from the south. Rain will return to northern Scotland, and across the rest of the country expect a mixture of sunshine and rain, and even the occasional stormy outburst. The Jet Stream – that ribbon of air currents high in the atmosphere that blows west to east across the Atlantic – is moving up over the UK as the week progresses and will bring unsettled conditions.
It will be a little cooler but that warm air feed will stay around and could cause it to feel a bit sticky, but nothing compared to what has been happening this past week in northwest India and Pakistan, where a heatwave has pushed the mercury up over 50C (122F).