60mph gales to start the week

The clocks went forward an hour at the weekend, marking the start of British Summer Time and adding an extra hour daylight to our evenings.

However, for the next few days, it’s going to stay lively, with the weather having no intention of making a step in the direction of spring, let alone summer.

At the end of last week, I wrote in my blog that our weather machine – the jet stream – is not only picking up speed, but also pushing a bit further southwards.

This is spawning deep areas of low pressure over the Atlantic ocean, before acting as an atmospheric superhighway and catapulting them towards us – causing heavy rain and gales.

60mph gales

Following deep areas of low pressure at the weekend, another is set to arrive during Monday into Tuesday, keeping the unsettled theme going.

Not only will a spell of heavy rain spread across much of the UK, but the wind will become very strong – especially during Monday night.

Gusts of 45-60mph will affect most places, with exposed areas, such as coasts and hills, seeing gusts as high as 70mph for a time – especially along the Bristol channel.

This will have the potential to cause some localised disruption to travel and bring down branches of trees, as highlighted by a Met Office “be aware” yellow warning.

If you have objects in the garden, it is worth putting them away or securing them safely, as they will get blown around quite a bit.

Although the wind will ease a little tomorrow, it will stay strong and gusty throughout Tuesday as heavy showers rattle through – just like on Sunday.

High pressure for Easter

After an unsettled start to the week, you’ll be probably be glad to hear that the jet stream is going to move north of the UK and weaken by Friday.

This will start to steer areas of low pressure towards Iceland and Scandinavia, allowing high pressure to build over us and settle the weather down.

At the moment, Good Friday looks like it’ll be a wet and breezy day. Thereafter, for the rest of the Easter weekend, there’ll be a change to cool, bright, mainly dry days and chilly night, with a touch of frost possible.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website. I’ll also be posting regular updates on Twitter – @liamdutton