All About Todays ShowersAdded : Friday at 9:01 A day of sunshine and showers today. Nothing too exciting we hear you say, but there could be a couple of interesting developments across the Midlands later on this afternoon.
Here is the latest radar :-
The main issue is the showers across Scotland today. These are all circulating around the centre of an area of low pressure and these will become heavy, slow moving and thundery throughout the course of today.
Our attention though is slightly further South and here is why. Check out the AROME model for this afternoon :-
You can see the showers across Central parts of the UK with a more organised band of showers across Ireland. The rain from these showers isn't too much of a concern as they are transient and will be blown through rather quickly on a brisk Westerly wind.
But, take a look at the forecast gust wind speeds :-
Notice the green splodges on the maps? They are 40-60mph wind gusts and the model shows these around the showers which push through this afternoon.
The reason for this can be explained pretty well by looking at the forecast Skew-T for the same time across parts of Suffolk :-
You can see the instability of the air as the red line is to the left of the lapse rate. But, look at the winds along the right hand side of the image. Some rather strong winds not far off the surface level and it's this which the showers tap into.
As the air rises in the shower clouds, so it then descends around the shower cloud and it's this process which draws down winds from aloft. Worth remembering if you see showers heading your way today as the wind could pick up rather quickly and you might find the trampoline in the garden taking a brief summer holiday to the next door neighbours.
METEOROLOGIST : MARSH |