Week Ahead – Unusually hot for some 19/07/21
The UK heatwave continues this week and it will turn unusually hot in some western parts of the country. Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern has the details.
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00:00Hello, and welcome to the Met Office forecast for the week ahead. The UK heatwave continues
00:05through the rest of the week, sunny and hot in many places, unusually hot for some, especially
00:11Wednesday, Thursday, towards the west of the UK. More on that in a moment. Not only will
00:17we have the high temperatures by day, but we'll also experience very warm nights, uncomfortable
00:22for sleeping. And that means that Tuesday gets off to a warm start, temperatures quickly
00:26rising, hot and sunny for many of us once again. One exception, north-east Scotland
00:30where we keep some low cloud around coastal areas in particular, that will keep things
00:34cooler here. Otherwise, those widespread high temperatures could spark the odd thunderstorm,
00:39especially towards the south-east. These will be very isolated, however, for the vast majority
00:45it's staying very warm or hot and sunny. Temperatures in the south, again, 30 to 32 Celsius possible
00:51somewhere around the midlands, south Wales into the south-east of England. But those
00:55temperatures are rising further north-west as well. Northern Ireland, south-west Scotland,
00:58north-west England, high 20s. You'll notice the significant difference towards the north-east
01:02of Scotland, mid to high teens here. And we're going to see that low cloud continue to affect
01:07parts of eastern Scotland and northern Scotland through Wednesday morning. Again, an uncomfortable
01:12night for sleeping and a warm start to the day on Wednesday. And that heat, once more,
01:17as it builds into the afternoon, could trigger a torrential shower or thunderstorm. You'd
01:22be unlucky to be caught in these. They will be very isolated, but I think where they do
01:26occur could be some impacts because of the torrential nature of these thunderstorms.
01:32Nevertheless, where we've got the sunny skies, it will be another very warm or hot day. We
01:38do it all again on Thursday, some of that low cloud affecting North Sea coast and some
01:43of that heat triggering thunderstorms or torrential showers. But otherwise, for many, it's simply
01:49a sunny Thursday with, again, very high temperatures. And the temperatures increasingly a talking
01:56point, I think, through Wednesday and Thursday in some places.
01:59Now, at the start of this week, Monday, Tuesday, the heat across the UK is concentrated across
02:04southern parts of the country. But some changes mid-week. This low pressure will approach.
02:10That's going to bump up against the high pressure that's keeping things sunny for the UK. And
02:15as they squeeze together, the heat in the south will move northwestwards and that will
02:20turn things unusually hot for western parts of the country. Now, the likes of London and
02:25Birmingham are used to temperatures at around 30, 31, 32 Celsius. That's not necessarily
02:31the case for parts of southwest Scotland, Northern Ireland and western parts of Wales
02:36and the southwest of England. So as far as anomalously high temperatures, unusual temperatures
02:41are concerned, the greatest threat is on Wednesday and Thursday for western parts
02:47of the country. And I say threat because although for many places, many people, it's the kind
02:53of weather that you might enjoy in the summer. But this kind of weather does impact vulnerable
02:58people, especially given that the temperatures aren't falling much at night and then they're
03:02rising to those unusual values in places by day.
03:06So let's take a look at what the temperatures will mean for Thursday. Again, low 30s for
03:11southern parts of England and Wales, but you'll notice we're up to 30 Celsius, perhaps
03:15for west Wales, but more especially northwest England, the coast of southwest Scotland as
03:19well as Northern Ireland and southwest England. And those temperatures continue to rise on
03:25Thursday. And that means that although it will be cooler for some southern and eastern
03:30coasts, inland temperatures again exceeding 30 Celsius widely, north coast of Devon, for
03:35example, into much of central and western England and for the likes of west Midlands,
03:41south Wales as well, 30 to 33 Celsius possible. So again, unusually high temperatures could
03:47have some impacts on vulnerable people, especially given they're not cooling off much at night.
03:52And for northwest England for Thursday into southwest Scotland, Northern Ireland, high
03:5620s, 30, perhaps even a little higher in one or two spots. And that Northern Ireland temperature
04:02record not too far from those temperatures that you see on the map. So that's certainly
04:07one to watch. And Northern Ireland seeing the greatest temperature anomaly by this stage.
04:13So the greatest difference compared to their average for the time of year. A big contrast
04:17across Scotland, much cooler to the northeast and much warmer towards the southwest. High
04:23pressure holds on on Thursday into Friday for many places. But the low pressure I mentioned
04:27towards the southwest, well, that's likely to bring a change by Wednesday. Not initially.
04:32Initially, it will be warm or very warm and sunny in many places. I think a bit more of
04:37this North Sea low cloud affecting eastern areas. So a much cooler day to come here.
04:42But elsewhere, plenty more of that very warm sunshine to come. Perhaps temperatures not
04:46quite as high as they were on Wednesday and Thursday. But nevertheless, high 20s, the
04:50odd 30 possible. And then towards the southwest by the end of Friday, signs of that change
04:55coming along with some thunderstorms or heavy rain arriving later on. That then moves its
05:01way northwards during Saturday and slows down. So it's really the southern half of the UK
05:07where things turn a bit more unsettled for the start of the weekend with the risk of
05:11rain or showers or thunderstorms. Scotland, Northern England, Northern Ireland keep the
05:15sunshine on Saturday and the high temperatures. And in fact, whilst much of the country is
05:20beginning to cool down, northwest Scotland is beginning to warm up as the heat pushes
05:27northwards here. And then by Sunday, for many places, it's back to rain or showers. But
05:32northwest Scotland in particular may hang on to the heat and the sunshine for another
05:39day. Follow us on social media and we'll keep you updated on these channels. Bye bye.