Bank holiday weekend: rain or shine?

Once again, a bank holiday weekend lies ahead (except in Scotland) and most of us will be hoping that the relentless rain of the past week will ease.

August this year has been disappointing, although it shouldn’t come as too much as a surprise, given that seven of the last ten Augusts have been wetter than normal.

The reason for the unseasonable weather has been the jet stream – the fast-moving ribbon of air around five miles up in the atmosphere that drives the weather we experience at the surface.

For much of the month, it has been over or south of the UK, developing areas of low pressure, then steering them towards us, bringing cloud, wind and rain.

So, will bank holiday offer decent weather this weekend? It’s worth pointing out that there is still some uncertainty with the detail for England and Wales. Nevertheless, let’s take a look day by day.

Saturday

Scotland and Northern Ireland will have a bright day with sunshine and showers, accompanied by a blustery wind.

England and Wales will start fine with spells of sunshine, however, it looks like cloud will increase during the afternoon, with rain slowly spreading up from the south.

Temperatures will be a little below average, with 14-18C in the north and 17-22C in the south.

Sunday

Much of England and Wales will be cloudy for most of the day, with showers or longer spells of rain that could be heavy.

Scotland and Northern Ireland will have similar weather to Saturday, with a mixture of sunshine and showers.

Temperatures will reach 14-19C in the north and 17-23C in the south.

Bank holiday Monday

England and Wales should have a better day on Monday, with sunny spells and just a few showers in the north and west.

Scotland and Northern Ireland could well see more showers compared to previous days, as a cool north westerly wind picks up.

Temperatures will reach 13-18C in the north and 17-21C in the south.

High pressure building

As next week progresses, high pressure is going to build in from the west – although the centre of the high pressure will sit just to the west of Ireland.

This means that whilst the weather will be more settled, there is still scope to see a few showers, although rainfall amounts will be much less that what we’ve seen during the past week.

Even though there should be more in the way of sunshine, the wind will be coming from a cool northerly direction.

This could lead to some fairly chilly nights, with temperatures widely dipping down into single figures, with a touch of grass frost possible in sheltered parts of the countryside.

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