No downpours in sight – but at least no blizzard either
It has been a dry old February, with large areas of southern England only seeing around 5 per cent of normal rainfall for this time of year. And as we move on Wednesday into March and meteorological spring, there is no immediate prospect of any downpours to nourish dry soil.
The whole of the UK is dominated by high pressure at the moment. As the working week begins its centre will move slowly from west to east, which will change the wind direction, but do little to disturb the dry, cloudy prevailing conditions.
This morning will start as yesterday, with largely grey skies, though the sunshine may break through as the day wears on. The further west you are, the better the chances, while along the North Sea coast a northerly wind will add a definite nip to the air.
Temperatures are pretty much in line with seasonal averages, so 46F (8C) in southern and south-eastern England and East Anglia, 45F (7C) in South Wales and much of Scotland, and 48F (9C) for sheltered Northern Ireland. But when you add in the wind chill factor in those exposed eastern areas, it will feel much colder.
As that high pressure slowly shifts, so too do the winds that blow around it in a clockwise direction. The cold northerly becomes a more blustery and biting north-easterly as it sweeps across southern England tomorrow, while elsewhere conditions remain largely unchanged.
March arrives without much ceremony – and preciously little indication of more than the occasional shower. Perhaps, though, we should be grateful for the predictability. In southern California, the usual balmy climate has given way to Los Angeles’s first blizzard warning in 34 years, while 26 inches (660mm) of rain in 24 hours on the coast near São Paulo in Brazil has caused landslides with dozens reported dead or missing.