Saturday morning forecast 20/01/24

20 January - National weather forecast presented by Aidan McGivern.

Transcript

00:00Hello, a very good morning to you. Storm Esher will arrive later this weekend to bring widespread

00:06disruptive and potentially damaging wind gusts. Before that happens, it's already turning

00:11wet and windy out there with the spell of rain moving through Scotland, Northern England

00:15and Wales through the morning. Some showers for Northern Ireland. Brightest and coldest

00:20towards the southeast, a touch of frost first thing and some slippery surfaces for Northern

00:25Scotland first thing. But soon enough, much of the UK is turning milder as the Atlantic

00:31roars back and that Atlantic is going to send us some deep lows over the next few days.

00:38For Saturday afternoon, actually, it's relatively cloudy and damp picture out there. The rain

00:44continuing across Wales and Northern England, especially over hills, but tending to fizzle

00:49somewhat. So, drier interludes and certainly some brightness towards the southeast and the

00:54far north of Scotland. It's going to be breezy everywhere, however, and that breeze coming from

00:59the south will bring milder air with it. Nine Celsius in the west, for example, but still a

01:04bit of a chill in the air towards the southeast, five or six degrees. As we end Saturday, as the

01:09sun goes down, well, the next spell of heavy and persistent rain turns up, could cause some issues

01:15for central Scotland, combined with snowmelt, of course. And it is going to be a wet night with

01:21that rain sweeping across the country, heaviest and most persistent over western hills, but most

01:25areas seeing some rain at some point. By dawn, the rain is replaced by showers, the showers most

01:31frequent and heaviest towards the west. Some clear interludes in between the showers, but it's

01:36certainly going to stay blustery overnight with temperatures staying up as a result, frost free

01:42by and large across the country. A bright start in one or two places, but quite a number of showers,

01:47especially for Scotland, northern and western England and Wales. And soon enough, the showers

01:51turn to more persistent rain across western parts, especially Northern Ireland. And then into the

01:56afternoon, much of Scotland, western England and Wales, driest towards the southeast. Just a few

02:01drips and draughts of rain here and certainly drier for northern Scotland, with some brightness

02:06lingering into the afternoon. It's also going to turn increasingly windy, but that wind coming from

02:10the southwest will import much milder air. So we're into the double digits again, 12 Celsius,

02:17even 13 degrees in one or two spots, staying colder there in the far north of Scotland, but

02:23cold enough for snow, not anymore. Now, into Sunday evening, you can see the winds are ramping

02:28up at this stage. The strongest wind gusts at the end of the afternoon will be across western coast,

02:3250 or 60 miles an hour. But as the sun goes down, we're going to see widely across England, Wales,

02:38southern Scotland, Northern Ireland, even inland, 50 to 60 mile per hour wind gusts. Some western

02:43areas could see inland 70 mile per hour gusts and there is the risk that some exposed coasts,

02:49particularly around the Irish Sea, will see 80 mile per hour wind gusts. That strength of winds

02:55could cause some real disruption on Sunday night and into Monday morning, not to mention the strong

03:01winds that will pass through the channel to affect southeastern parts. So, amber warning in force

03:07across some central and western parts of the UK, yellow warning widely except for Shetland

03:12and the advice is to stay up to date with forecasts, stay up to date with warnings,

03:18check travel conditions if you're heading out, say first thing on Monday and stay safe. Bye-bye.