Chilly nights to give a hint of autumn this week

Following a summer that has been dominated by sunshine and warmth through June and July, August hasn’t quite lived up to its reputation.

During the first 13 days of the month, the UK had already received 86.1mm of rain, which is almost all of the August average of 89.5mm.

The change in fortunes has been brought about by the jet stream changing position. Rather than sitting to the north of the UK, it has now moved over or to the south of us – sending low pressure in our direction. 

This week will see low pressure sitting over Scandinavia, putting us under the influence of a northerly wind, delivering cool air for us all.

Whilst it will feel cooler by day, the most marked change in how the weather feels will come in the form of some unseasonably chilly nights.

How cold will it be?

Typically in August, temperatures at night are in the range of 10-14C across England and Wales, with 7-10C across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However, this week, temperatures at night are going to be around 3-5C below what would normally be expected at this time of year.

So temperatures in towns and cities across the UK will fall to around 6-9C, with rural areas falling to 2-5C, with a few prone cold spots possibly a little colder.

Is this record-breaking?

Despite the prospect of such temperatures sounding pretty chilly for August, they are nowhere near record breaking.

The record low temperatures for August for each country of the UK are as follows;

Scotland: -4.5C at Lagganlia, Inverness-shire on 21 August 1973

England: -2C at Moor House, Cumbria on 28 August 1977 and Kielder Castle, Northumberland on 14 August 1994

Wales: -2.8C at Alwen, Conwy on 29 August 1959

Northern Ireland: -1.1C at Loughermore Forest, County Londonderry on 21 August 1964

Bank holiday weather

The final bank holiday of the year is upon us next weekend and the weather looks like taking on an unsettled note.

At the moment, Saturday looks like being the best day of the bank holiday, with most places having a day of sunny spells.

However, the arrival of low pressure will give a cloudy, breezy and wet day on Sunday, followed by sunshine and showers on Monday.

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