This is the Met Office UK Weather forecast for the week ahead 29/04/2024.
As winds change direction this week, warmer air will arrived in many places. Not everywhere will be warm, however. And not everywhere will be dry and sunny... Bringing you this weekend’s weather forecast is Aidan McGivern.
We are the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, and every day of the week we bring you a morning weather forecast and an afternoon weather forecast so that wherever you are in the UK we have you covered.
Forecast and any weather warnings are accurate at time of recording. To ensure you have the most up to date weather information, check the hourly forecast and live warnings on the Met Office website or app.
As winds change direction this week, warmer air will arrived in many places. Not everywhere will be warm, however. And not everywhere will be dry and sunny... Bringing you this weekend’s weather forecast is Aidan McGivern.
We are the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, and every day of the week we bring you a morning weather forecast and an afternoon weather forecast so that wherever you are in the UK we have you covered.
Forecast and any weather warnings are accurate at time of recording. To ensure you have the most up to date weather information, check the hourly forecast and live warnings on the Met Office website or app.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hi there and welcome to the latest week ahead forecast from the Met Office. The second half
00:04 of April has brought cooler than average weather but that's about to change as the winds change
00:09 direction. Now normally through the winter and the first half of spring we talk about
00:13 southwesterlies being mild and northeasterly winds being cold. This week however that's
00:19 switching on its head and that's because we start the week with these cool southwesterlies
00:24 that don't really come from the southwest, they're bringing air that comes from further
00:29 north. Meanwhile, warm air over the Mediterranean and the continent, watch how it moves north
00:36 over the next few days and this plume of warmth then arrives into the UK on an easterly and
00:41 then northeasterly winds. So we start the week with cool southwesterlies and we end
00:46 the week with warm northeasterlies. But bear in mind it's not going to feel warm everywhere.
00:52 There will be exceptions, particularly where we've got some wetter weather lingering towards
00:56 the far southwest and where we've got some fret and higher affecting northeastern coasts,
01:02 temperatures are still going to be suppressed. Elsewhere we have got warmer conditions developing
01:07 over the next few days but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be drier everywhere. Now
01:12 we start the week with the focus of the wet weather towards the west and watch how the
01:17 rain builds up across the map through Monday to Friday. Western areas on Tuesday seeing
01:23 the bulk of the wet weather. Then the focus turns to southern parts as low pressure sinks
01:28 to the south and the highest rainfall totals are expected through the next week or so across
01:34 south Wales and southwest England. Some upland areas seeing 50 to 100 millimetres of rain.
01:41 But note those areas where we're going to see very little rainfall, if any, east Midlands
01:45 for example, parts of southeast England and towards the far north and northwest of Scotland.
01:51 So a very mixed week of weather from place to place and from day to day. We start the
01:55 week or at least we start Tuesday with some fine weather there across central and eastern
01:59 parts of England. Northern Scotland also faring well for sunny spells. Further west we've
02:04 got cloud and outbreaks of rain and increased breeze as well, particularly gusty wind around
02:10 western coast making it feel on the cool side. The sun will return for Northern Ireland in
02:14 between scattered showers although it stays dull and damp in western Scotland, Wales and
02:19 the southwest. Meanwhile, we keep the sunshine in the east of England, northeast Scotland
02:23 as well, one or two light showers possible. But temperature contrasts quite significant
02:29 across the UK on Tuesday afternoon, 19 possibly stretching to 20 Celsius in the east of England,
02:36 12 to 13 for the west of the UK with that blustery breeze coming from the southwest.
02:44 Then later Tuesday, the low pressure that's sitting out to the west of the UK meanders
02:49 around, but eventually the winds begin to switch more to a southeasterly direction.
02:55 They'll bring this feature into eastern parts of the country to bring some showery rain
02:59 on Wednesday, so a cloudier outlook for Wednesday morning compared with how we end things on
03:04 Tuesday in the east. And that's where there'll be some wet weather into eastern Scotland,
03:09 northeast England for example, and an increased amount of low cloud and mist and murk and
03:14 so on around some of the coastal parts here. That means temperatures will be limited to
03:19 13 or 14 Celsius, some places 11 or 12 Celsius at best. Meanwhile, it's a warmer day towards
03:26 the west and a drier day as well with some sunny spells, albeit with a few showers still
03:30 possible and a lot of cloud cover, some patchy rain arriving into the midlands, central,
03:36 southern England by the end of the day. The best of any sunny spells and prolonged dry
03:39 weather, western Scotland towards the far southwest, west Wales for example, where temperatures
03:45 will reach the mid-teens. Then into Wednesday night, well, we're looking
03:51 at a different low pressure by this stage, one over continental Europe. This is a thundery
03:56 area of low pressure and you'll note the warmer colours as well arriving across many parts
04:02 of the country from the southeast. But this feature associated with the warm, humid air
04:07 over the continent could bring some thundery rain overnight Wednesday and into the start
04:12 of Thursday. So we start off Thursday with some potentially
04:16 very heavy rainfall across southern and southwestern parts of the UK, into south Wales for example.
04:21 Frequent lightning a possibility overnight and into the very early morning on Thursday.
04:27 Some uncertainty about exactly where these thunderstorms will occur, but they'll be moving
04:31 their way northwestwards through the morning. It could be a damp morning for the southwest
04:35 of England and south Wales, thunderstorms tending to ease but leaving a legacy of outbreaks
04:40 of rain I suspect well into the afternoon across this part of the country.
04:45 Elsewhere, it's mostly dry but there will be that low cloud hugging the northeast coast,
04:51 eastern Scotland, northeast England for example. Perhaps Dan to look towards Lincolnshire and
04:55 North Norfolk as well. Best of any sunshine, once again, western Scotland, northern Ireland
05:00 doing well, northwest England into parts of the Midlands and east Anglia. And it's in
05:04 this sunnier swathe that the highest temperatures will be. Again, marked contrast up and down
05:10 the country. Cool where we've got the cloud and rain towards the southwest, 14 or 15 Celsius.
05:15 Cool where we've got that northeasterly breeze and the low cloud in the northeast, 12 Celsius
05:20 at best. But where we do have some sunshine for western Scotland, northern Ireland, through
05:25 these central parts of the UK, the potential for 18 to 22 Celsius.
05:32 Then into Friday, a similar picture with outbreaks of showery rain across parts of Wales and
05:38 the south of England. Perhaps some showers returning into the east of England for a time
05:41 as well. Elsewhere, a lot of cloud cover but once more, sunniest place likely to be western
05:47 Scotland, parts of northwest England, northern Ireland seeing some bright conditions as well.
05:52 And where we get the sunshine, once again, temperatures up into the high teens, perhaps
05:56 low 20s, where we've got the mist and low cloud in the northeast, temperatures once
06:01 again limited. Similar themes as we head into the start of
06:04 the weekend. We've got higher pressure towards the southwest, low pressure eventually sinking
06:09 away from the south of the UK to lead to some drier weather for a time at the start of the
06:13 bank holiday weekend. But further lows trying to move in and the speed at which these lows
06:19 begin to affect the UK through the weekend, that's a source of continuing uncertainty
06:23 at the moment. And the extent to which this area of high pressure and high pressure to
06:28 the north cling on, well again, that is a little uncertain at the moment. But it looks
06:33 likely that Saturday will be mostly dry and increased chance of showers or longer spells
06:38 of rain as the weekend progresses. We'll keep you updated on that and of course everything
06:43 else you can follow those updates on our YouTube channel. Bye bye.