A bright start to Tuesday for many regions with some sunny spells around but we are watching a fairly active feature pushing in from the west today bringing a band of heavy showery rain and some gusty winds as it heads east across much of the country.

That band is already affecting Ireland with some embedded thunderstorms and will track north-eastwards today, bringing the potential for some squally conditions for a time across Northern Ireland and then parts of Scotland although not everywhere will see the heavy showers. Meanwhile, a scattering of heavy showers will also break out ahead of that main showery band across central and eastern parts of England this morning so that by this afternoon much of the country will be seeing a mix of sunny spells and scattered showers although southern and south-western regions will become mostly dry.

Temperatures will be doing reasonably well for the end of September with maximums ranging from 17°C or 18°C in the north to 21°C or 22°C towards the south and southeast of England although the brisk winds will take the edge off those values.

Showers will become restricted to more northern regions tonight but by then attention will be on Storm Agnes developing rapidly to the southwest of the country. Agnes sweeps in later tonight and during tomorrow bringing some very wet and windy weather, especially for more northern and western regions. The strongest winds look set to impact coastal parts of Ireland where gusts of around 80 MPH are possible for a time, but Irish Sea coastal areas will become very windy tomorrow with severe gales gusting up to 70 MPH bringing the risk of some damage and disruption in places.

METEOROLOGIST : BARBER

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