You'll have to believe us when we say that this seagull is facing East, not because it can see someone holding a bag of chips, but because the wind will change across the UK this coming weekend and into next week to a rather impressive Easterly and the seagull is ready for it!
The problem with Easterlies is that they tend to get a pretty bad press in the Winter and Summer months. After all, the air originates across the continent and therefore is more prone to fluctuations, ranging from bitterly cold in the Winter to scorching hot in the Summer months. When it's April, then things are slightly different. The airmass to the East is far more tame and it requires some significant shifting of the original airmass from either Northerly quarters or Southerly ones to achieve the same effect.
The global models have been pretty consistent with this Easterly developing for the last few days. It all starts off as a rather bland and boring affair with cooler air and cloud coming into Eastern areas, but towards the end of next week there is a low chance of the high pressure to the North of us and low pressure near Western Russia combining to send some colder air South.
If this was February then forecasting this period would be pretty straight forward, but it's April and as a result it's far more tricky than you might think. The reason is all down to how quickly that colder air travels towards the UK. Too slow and it becomes warmed at the base as it crosses Europe during the daytime. Too quick and it's more likely that disturbances are created in the flow which allows warmer air to become wrapped around them as they move Westward.
So, keep an eye on the charts, some interesting stuff next week, but not as interesting as that bag of chips which the seagull has just spotted!
METEOROLOGIST : SALTNVINEGAR
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