Week ahead – How long will the hot sunshine last?
Just how long will the hot sunny weather stick around for? If you’re looking for rain there’s not much in the forecast this week but there are a few signs of a change into next week as Alex Deakin explains.
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00:00Thanks for joining me for this week ahead weather from the Met Office.
00:03It's all about sunshine and very little in the way of rainfall.
00:09So we know it's going to be pretty much dry.
00:11And we know that temperatures will be rising.
00:13But why are we seeing this hot spell of weather and how long is it going to last?
00:18Let's deal with the why, first of all, and take a look at the position of the jet
00:21stream, that fast moving ribbon of air high up in the atmosphere
00:25that steers low pressure systems.
00:27And it's just funneling them all to the north.
00:30The jet streams to the north, taking the low pressure systems
00:32and the weather fronts.
00:33It's been a fairly wet summer so far across Iceland.
00:36Meanwhile, we are to the south of the jet, allowing high pressure
00:40to dominate, bringing plenty of sunshine.
00:43And it's the high pressure squashing the air with a combination of sunny skies
00:47day on day that will continue to lift the temperatures through this week.
00:52There are signs, subtle signs of a change
00:56as we go into the weekend and beyond.
00:58The high pressure starts to waddle away to the east,
01:01potentially allowing us to tap into even hotter air from the south.
01:05And by Friday and Saturday, we could easily see temperatures
01:08peaking in the mid 30s across the south.
01:10But this low pressure also offers the potential for some thundery showers.
01:16That's more likely to happen
01:18during the second half of the weekend and into next week.
01:22Before that, though, plenty to get through with this week's weather.
01:25So let's deal with it day on day.
01:27Tuesday's a repeat performance of Monday pretty much,
01:29although it won't be as wet across the highlands.
01:31Actually, the rain petering out even across the Northern Isles
01:34through the day, staying fairly cloudy in the far northwest, but elsewhere,
01:37lots of sunshine and temperatures starting to rise even further.
01:42We'll be up more widely into the mid 20s, maybe peaking at 30 Celsius
01:46across the southeast.
01:47Some of the beaches will be a little cooler where we see sea breezes
01:50developing and quite a brisk wind picking up across northwest Scotland
01:54as the isobars squeeze together
01:55close to this weather front during Tuesday night and into Wednesday.
01:59But elsewhere, high pressure continues to control our weather.
02:02A dry, clear night.
02:04And we will see temperatures by night increasing through the rest of this week.
02:08So a warm start to Wednesday, still a bit of a breeze,
02:11perhaps along the south coast.
02:13Certainly, it'll be quite windy across the far northwest.
02:15But otherwise, light winds, lots of sunshine, probably a sunnier day
02:19across northern Scotland where we could see temperatures in Orkney
02:22up to 20 Celsius and quite widely further south, mid to high 20s,
02:27peaking across the southeast, probably at 31 on Wednesday afternoon.
02:32Again, come Thursday, high pressure still nearby.
02:35Weather front's just flirting with the far north.
02:37So we may see a bit more cloud returning to the Northern Isles,
02:40the Western Isles and perhaps a little bit of rain at times during Thursday.
02:44But elsewhere across Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales.
02:48Again, it's a fine start to what will be, by and large,
02:51another hot and sunny day.
02:53As I said, a little bit of rain just creeping into the far north.
02:56The wind should be a little lighter on Thursday.
02:58But look at these temperatures again into the high 20s widely
03:02and across the heart of England and Wales into the low 30s.
03:07Again, some of the beaches will be a little cooler, perhaps the east coast
03:10turning a little fresher as the breeze starts to pick up here
03:13as we head towards the end of the week, as that high just starts to amble
03:17a little further eastwards.
03:19The weather front may just push back to the north as we head into Friday.
03:23We could see some mist and low cloud across the Northern Isles
03:26and the northeast of Scotland.
03:27But again, for most, Friday is one more fine, hot and sunny day.
03:33And by this stage, we could just start tapping into more heat
03:35building across the south.
03:37But that easterly breeze just picking up further
03:39means that some of these eastern coasts will be just a little bit cooler
03:43on Friday.
03:43So the highest temperatures probably over the Midlands,
03:46southeast England into south Wales, where again, low 30s,
03:50perhaps even into the mid 30s in one or two spots.
03:54So temperatures, as I say, just continuing to rise throughout this week.
03:57And then that question mark as we go into the weekend,
04:00as the high starts to pull away, still a lot of hot and sunny weather
04:03for most on Saturday.
04:04But just the possibility that this low pressure system may introduce
04:09some thundery showers late on Saturday night and into Sunday.
04:13But that's a long way off.
04:15But signs of things changing, perhaps as we go into next week.
04:19So if you're after rainfall, there's not much at all to come this week.
04:23But signs of a change, perhaps as we go into next week.
04:27Stay up to date with the latest through this week
04:29by following the Met Office across social media.