2 May 2013

Rain or shine for bank holiday weekend?

Once again, a bank holiday weekend is upon us and the weather will be at the forefront of most of our minds as we decide what to do during the long weekend.

Bank holidays are often problematic at the best of times given the changeable nature of the British weather. Everyone hangs on to every word we meteorological folk utter, hoping that the words warmth and sunshine will leave our lips.

In recent days, you may have seen my comments on Twitter about how there has been quite a bit of uncertainty on exactly what the weather will do during the bank holiday.

Whilst the detail is still not crystal clear, I have increasing confidence in the most likely outcome, hence me putting my thoughts out there in this blog.

In a nutshell, as always, there are going to be winners and losers this weekend. At the moment, the best of the sunshine and warmth looks set to be across southern and eastern parts of England.

The weather elsewhere won’t be a write off, but it is likely to be a little more mixed, with cloudier spells and some rain.

Saturday

England and Wales will generally have a fine day on Saturday, but there will be some cloud and patchy rain across East Anglia and south east England in the morning, which could linger until lunch time in a few places.

Scotland and Northern Ireland will have a lot of cloud, with outbreaks of occasional rain through the day, accompanied by a brisk breeze.

Sunday

The best of any sunshine on Sunday will be across eastern parts of Scotland and Wales, as well as central and eastern England. However, don’t expect clear blue skies, as high cloud will tend to turn the sunshine hazy.

For the rest of the UK, there’ll be quite a bit of cloud, with outbreaks of light rain and drizzle – especially around the coasts and across the hills.

Places that see the sunshine will feel pleasantly warm at 16-20C, but where it stays cloudy, a cooler 10-16C.

Bank holiday Monday

At this stage, it looks like Scotland and Wales along with central and eastern parts of England will see the best of the sunshine on Monday.

Northern Ireland, northern and south west England could have quite a lot of cloud with some light rain or drizzle, but it’s not expected to amount to much.

 

Temperatures are likely to reach a warm 16-21C across England and Wales, but cool for Scotland and Northern Ireland at 10-16C.

There’s always a caveat that the detail could change slightly in the coming days, so keep an eye on the latest forecast on the Channel 4 weather website. I’ll also be posting updates on Twitter – @liamdutton

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