The area of high pressure that has kept many areas dry for so long has receded for a time allowing for an area of low pressure to encroach from the southwest bringing the risk of some rain or showers in places for the start of the week. However, that high will be building back in during the next few days to bring back a return to widespread settled conditions.

Back to this morning and whilst many central and eastern regions are starting off dry and fine again, there is some low cloud towards the east and northeast of Scotland which may linger for much of the day, especially in the far northeast. Meanwhile, cloudier skies are affecting many western and southern regions of the country with some locally heavy rain affecting western Scotland, regions adjacent to the Irish Sea and down towards the southwest of England.

That rain will tend to ease as we go through this morning with the cloud breaking up so for most places it will be another mostly fine, warm and sunny day. However, with more instability in the atmosphere towards the south and west we are expecting some scattered heavy, thundery downpours to break out this afternoon, especially across parts of central, southern England, the Midlands and into Wales. They will be hit-and-miss affairs with many places missing them, but where they do develop there could be some torrential downpours along with a risk of hail and thunder.

In the best of the sunshine it will be another very warm day with temperatures climbing to highs of 22°C to 25°C across central and eastern England, but it will be cooler in the north and in the showery areas with north-eastern coasts remaining rather chilly under any lingering low cloud.

Any evening showers and storms will slowly die out to leave many places dry overnight with clear spells although some low cloud will affect north-eastern coasts. This takes us into a largely fine day tomorrow as high pressure strengthens to the north of the country, but that low to the south will still be close enough to bring the risk of a few heavy showers towards the far south and southwest.

METEOROLOGIST : BARBER

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