Weather and climate change

Headline:

Further rain across central and northern areas. Dry elsewhere.

This Evening and Tonight:

Showery rain, heavy and perhaps thundery at times, will affect central and northern areas through this evening and overnight. Northern Scotland staying mostly dry with clear spells. Clear spells too across southern England, with some patchy fog and frost possible.

Saturday:

Cloudy across Wales, Northern Ireland, northern England and much of Scotland with rain at times. Northwest Scotland, along with central and southern England seeing sunny spells and some heavy showers.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Warm spells of sunshine, but with scattered showers on Sunday. Similar for many on Monday, though more persistent rain possible in the south. Starting to settle down on Tuesday.

Updated: 17:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 3 May 2024

Strong signal for a continued build of high pressure across the UK by the middle of next week. This will bring more in the way of dry and fine weather for most areas, although there is still a chance of some showers in places at first, and a risk also of some more persistent rain rounding the high into north-western parts of the country. The high is likely to maintain influence into the weekend before starting to weaken the following week. So a continuation of fine conditions next weekend seems likely, before a return of less settled conditions by the end of the period. Temperatures are expected to be slightly above normal for early May.

Updated: 15:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 3 May 2024

During the longer range outlook period, there is a greater chance of unsettled weather returning, especially across the south. This means that spells of wet weather are likely for most with no particular location more prone than anywhere else. There are no strong signs for any exceptional temperatures either above or below average, but warm days are possible as are some chilly nights.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 3 May 2024