The Met Office has a yellow weather warning in place as forecasters anticipate an “increasingly unsettled” week with rain, wind and some snow expected in the coming days
Monster winds of up to 80 mph and as much as 16mm of rain will torment parts of the country later this week, say forecasters.
The Met Office anticipates an “increasingly unsettled” week with rain, wind and some snow as “a very cold pool of air” will move slowly across the Atlantic from the US. It was this low pressure which sent temperatures tumbling to -6C in Washington DC, which led to Donald Trump’s inauguration being moved indoors into the Capitol Rotunda.
The mercury is set to drop here too in the coming days with conditions cold enough for snowfall across the Scottish mountains. It’ll be bitter elsewhere too, including all of Northern Ireland the Scottish Borders, both of which are subject to a weather warning for wind on Friday.
And it is on Friday when these winds could reach 80mph along coastal areas, including across North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway. Downpours are expected on Friday with the heaviest of rain believed to hit south Wales, notably Glamorgan and Caerphilly, throughout the morning.
More than 15mm of rain is expected in just three hours across Dartmoor in Devon, and other parts of Southwest of England, such as Gloucestershire, will see significant rainfall on Friday too.
The Met Office’s deputy chief Mmeteorologist, Chris Almond, said: “A very deep area of low pressure will bring a very unsettled, potentially disruptive, spell of weather to the UK through Friday and into Saturday. Winds will begin to strengthen on Thursday night with the peak gusts forecast through Friday in Northern Ireland and western Scotland.
“The wind will also be accompanied by heavy rain bringing some unpleasant conditions to end the week. We have issued a Yellow weather warning for wind, and with several days before the impactful weather, the forecast details are likely to be fine-tuned during the week, so stay tuned to your local forecast and keep up to date with Met Office warnings.”
Monday was a relatively mild day with a high of 11.6C at Stormont Castle in Belfast. It was also double figures – 10.5C – at Machrihanish in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, on Monday.
But the mercury will fall to -2C across Scotland by Friday, meteorologists understand. It is said it will be freezing across most of north Wales, including Gwynedd, on Friday and into next weekend too.