It's a rather changeable end to the working week as a band of rain continues to move south and east across England and Wales this morning followed by fresher conditions from the west with sunshine and blustery showers.

Friday begins cloudy and wet across many parts of Wales, central and south-western England as overnight rain continues to edge south-eastwards. Some heavier bursts are still possible for a time, particularly towards Wales and central parts of England although the rain will steadily weaken as it moves further south and east. This rain will eventually clear the southeast of England by this afternoon with drier and brighter conditions following from the northwest. This means many areas can expect to see some sunny spells to end the day but showers towards the northwest will be quite heavy and frequent, especially across western Scotland and Northern Ireland, blown in on a blustery west/southwest wind. Temperatures will generally be around average for early September, reaching around 15°C to 18°C across Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland and 18°C to 22°C across much of England and Wales but feeling fresher compared to yesterday for many.

Showers across northern and western areas will continue throughout this evening and tonight with the best of the clear spells towards the south and east. It will be a cooler night, especially in the south, but still quite breezy in the north. Those winds will begin to ease as we move into tomorrow thanks to a ridge of high pressure building across the country. This ridge will help to kill off the showers in the north with many places seeing plenty of dry and fine weather before more rain moves into the far west by the afternoon.

METEOROLOGIST : BARBER

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