A much more autumnal day is in prospect across the British Isles today as an area of persistent rain moves slowly eastwards across England and Wales. Behind it, a noticeably cooler and fresher airmass will spread southwards from the northwest, bringing brighter conditions but also a scattering of showers, particularly across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Wednesday morning starts wet across a large part of England and Wales with outbreaks of rain, some of which will be heavy and persistent, particularly across central and eastern areas. The rain will gradually edge eastwards through the day with brighter and fresher conditions developing from the west across Wales, northwest England and eventually the Midlands. Scotland and Northern Ireland will see a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers, these most frequent towards northern and western coasts. Temperatures will be well down on recent days, generally reaching 11°C to 15°C across Scotland and northern England and around 14°C to 17°C further south, perhaps 18°C in the southeast before the cooler air arrives.

This evening sees the last of the rain clearing away from eastern and south-eastern England to leave most places dry with some lengthy clear spells, although showers will continue around northern and western coasts. Overnight it will turn noticeably colder than of late with temperatures widely falling into single figures and locally down towards freezing across rural parts of Scotland and northern England. Thursday then starts on a chilly note but looks largely dry and bright for much of the country with sunny spells, before cloud, rain and strengthening winds begin to move into Ireland and western Britain later in the day.

METEOROLOGIST : BARBER

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