A burst of warmth next week?

Just over a week ago most of us enjoyed a spell of settled and warmer weather as an area of high pressure built over the UK. The hottest day of the year so far was recorded, reaching 30.7C.

However this spell of sunshine and warmth was fairly short-lived, with the jet stream moved southwards again last weekend, with a return to wetter weather and temperatures closer to average for this time year.

Last week, I explained in a blog that although the jet stream was expected to return southwards, it would wriggle around rather than getting stuck in the same place as it did during June.

As a result of this I expected the weather to not be as bad as previous months, with heavy rain not as persistent and a better chance of sunshine and warmth in between.

Middle of next week

Next Tuesday, the weather computer models are showing signs of a brief ridge of high pressure across the UK, which given its orientation would lead to a warm, humid south easterly wind blowing from continental Europe.

As a result of this, there is likely to be an increase in temperature – mainly for England and Wales at this stage, where temperatures could reach 20-25C. Scotland and Northern Ireland are likely to reach 15-20C.

There also looks to be some sunshine, but given the rising humidity there will be an increasing risk of some thundery showers developing in places. So the clear blue skies that we experienced recently are unlikely.

Whilst a brief change to warmer weather may be enjoyed for most of us, the rising humidity may not be so welcome by the athletes taking places in the Olympics. Although any showers that form may help to cool things down a little at times.

This weekend

Before any improvements next week, this weekend will continue to be dominated by an area of low pressure, slowly drifting over the UK.

This means that there’ll be frequent showers for most of us during the coming days with hail and thunder mixed in.

With the winds fairly light, there’ll be the added problem that torrential downpours will be slow-moving. As a result of this, some places could see a lot of rain fall in short space of time with a risk of flash flooding.

Don’t forget you can get the latest five day forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website or if you take any pictures of menacing shower clouds, you can send them to me on Twitter – @liamdutton