Button up for a stormy time in the week ahead
THESE turbulent times in our national life are – as so often is the case – being reflected by turbulent times in our weather.
Storm clouds have literally and metaphorically been gathering over Westminster and will - the real ones, at least – still be there into the week ahead.
The gloomy, damp tone is being dictated by low pressure out in the Atlantic, pushed in on to the UK and then held in place by the Jet Stream.
And with this persistent low pressure comes a series of weather systems bringing rain and strong winds in waves.
If there is any comfort in the immediate forecast, especially when we are avoiding turning on the heating, it is that the wind is coming from the south-west and is therefore mild, keeping up temperatures.
Today will be warm by late October standards, with 20C (68F) in south east England, 18C (64F) in East Anglia, 17C (63F) in South Wales and south-west England, and 15C (59F) across Scotland and into Northern Ireland.
But prepare yourself, too, for a band of rain carried by a brisk wind up from the south-west in a northerly direction across the whole of the UK.
It may dwell for longer over northern England, while in the south-west a second weather front will arrive with yet more rain to deliver and following mostly the same course as the first.
That will mean another wet day tomorrow in most parts. Only by Tuesday does some calm re-establish itself, with sun and dry conditions, but only briefly.
By Wednesday, yet more jumping about by the Jet Stream out in the Atlantic will result in more low pressure and more rain and wind. Button up for the week ahead.