West is best in a unusually stable early summer
OUR weather is notoriously fickle and changeable but it is behaving out of character at the moment, with high pressure anchored to the north west bringing settled conditions that show no sign of going anywhere.
And we are – mostly – reaping the benefits, with a fortnight so far of dry, sunny, very pleasant, though hardly scorching, days to usher in summer.
The exception is down the east coast, where the wind that blows clockwise around that unmoving high-pressure mass is generating an unceasingly coolish north-easterly blast that comes in off the North Sea.
And that is how things are set to remain at least until next weekend. A familiar pattern will unfold this morning, with western parts seeing plenty of sunshine and warming up nicely, while in the east cloud is slower to disperse. A particularly dense patch will drift southwards from Edinburgh, past Newcastle, Hull and Norwich, keeping them unseasonably grey.
So, if you are in western Scotland, especially Glasgow, count your blessings and enjoy temperatures of up to 23C (73F). As you head southwards down that western seaboard, there is plenty more to celebrate. Blackpool, Liverpool, Cardiff and Plymouth should all make 22C (72F) under sunny skies. The south coast will have to contend with some stronger wind blowing through the Channel and pushing down the mercury. London may reach 21C (70F) but East Anglia, Humberside and Tyneside will be making do with 17C (63F).
The working week begins with much of the same, and continues that way through to Friday. West is best, rain is scarce and cloud a problem in the east.
The forecast for next weekend is looking unchanged, but there is a chance – just a chance – that the wet weather spoiling things in southern Europe may head our way, along with low pressure, and shake things up.