It's been a while since we have had a good old fashioned batch of wet and windy weather sweeping east across the country but that's exactly what is in store for today as a deep Atlantic low passes to the north of the country so a rather unsettled end to September for most places.

For much of England and Wales it is actually a bright and chilly start to the day with some early ground frost in places along with some mist and fog patches. However, cloud and wind is already increasing towards the north and west with outbreaks of rain affecting western Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the rain turning heavy and persistent. This band of rain, accompanied by freshening winds, will sweep eastwards today, reaching southeast England later this afternoon, and will give many areas a good few hours of steady rainfall. With the wind and rain, top temperatures of 14°C to 17°C will feel much cooler whilst the winds will become a feature in the north and west with coastal gales or severe gales developing for a time as gusts of around 70 MPH are likely in the far north.

Clearer, more showery conditions will follow into much of the north and west this afternoon, extending across the rest of the UK this evening as the rain clears to the east. This leaves much of the country under a brisk westerly flow tonight and tomorrow with showers continuing to feed in, heaviest and most frequent in the north and west, before another batch of wet weather pushes east across southern regions during Saturday night into Sunday.

METEOROLOGIST: BARBER

Airmass ► Radar ► UK Wind Radar ► Upwind Rainfall ► 

Yeah, we know the adverts have been a little all over the place on the site recently, but here is why and also V10 of Metcheck now nearly ready for beta testing... fancy a ride?

A very different feel to the weather this week as much colder air sweeps down from the north and northwest....