Good news for gardeners as rain arrives in spades
After the driest February in England for 30 years, with less than an inch (25mm) of rain over the whole month, we really need some wet weather to start replenishing reservoirs and refreshing fields and gardens. And in the week ahead we are going to get it, thanks to a continuous stream of low pressure pushing in from the Atlantic.
The latest instalment made landfall in Northern Ireland and western Scotland yesterday evening and, by the time we wake up this morning, it will be travelling eastwards across Wales and England. It will be accompanied by cooler air than in the past few days because of a switch in wind direction from warming south-westerly to chilly north-westerly. The result will be a cool day of persistent cloud and some rain, though mostly towards evening.
There will be an added element of wind chill, especially in coastal areas in the west. Expect up to 13C (55F) in the sheltered south-east of England, 12C (54F) in East Anglia, and 10-11C (50-52F) in all other parts, down on the unseasonable warmth of recent days.
On Monday, there is good news. The south-westerly winds will return, pushing up the mercury briefly, but as more low pressure heads in, the weather fronts will bring with them plenty of rain to most parts. It will be particularly wet and windy in the west and generally unsettled elsewhere.
If it is not quite turning out to be the spring we were hoping for, then spirits may fall lower as the week progresses, with more rain and a general cooling down to between 8-11C (46-52F).
To put our disappointment in perspective, however, spare a thought for southern Africa, where they have been suffering the fallout from Cyclone Freddy in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi, in what is being described as the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record.