BBC monthly outlook
Summary
Remaining changeable with some fine and dry spells
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Saturday 11 May – Sunday 19 May
Largely fine with high pressure
High pressure will become increasingly influential across the UK this weekend, although scattered showers are expected to develop on Saturday, some of which could be heavy during the afternoon with a rumble of thunder possible in the south. It will remain rather chilly in Scotland though, where the showers will be wintry over the hills and mountains. Sunday will be dry and fine with sunny periods for many areas, as high pressure becomes centred over the country, although one or two afternoon showers may develop in southern and eastern Britain. The sunshine may turn rather hazy in Northern Ireland and western Scotland though, with a warm front bringing a few spots of rain to the far north-west and Northern Isles overnight.
High pressure will remain centred just to the east of the UK during the first half of next week, bringing widespread dry, settled weather and sunny periods nationwide. Just a little patchy cloud is likely to develop during the afternoons. The warmest weather is expected in north-west Scotland, where temperatures will rise into the low-20s Celsius, and could reach 24 Celsius by Wednesday, which is likely to be the warmest day of the week. From Thursday onwards, the high will slide slowly north-west, to become centred to the north of Scotland. This should encourage less warm north-easterly winds to move in, keeping it rather cool along eastern coasts of England and Scotland where areas of low cloud could drift onshore at times. By Friday, low pressure will edge towards Britain from the south, bringing more general cloud, outbreaks of rain or showers and somewhat breezier conditions. North-west Scotland is likely to keep the driest and sunniest weather.
Monday 20 May – Sunday 26 May
Slowly turning wetter and more unsettled
Early in the following week, it seems that the high will edge back south across the UK, forcing low pressure south towards central Europe. Although the week may start on an unsettled and breezy note with some showers or outbreaks of rain, it is looking like becoming dry around mid-week, although it may be rather cool with north-easterly winds lingering. Once again, western and north-western Britain may well see the sunniest and warmest weather, while many eastern coasts of England and Scotland will remain chilly with areas of low cloud and one or two showers or spots of rain possible.
Towards the end of the week, the weather looks to become more variable once again, with low pressure areas likely to move closer to the UK from the west or south-west. These will bring bands of rain and occasional showers to western and southern Britain in particular, and the week may end on a rather wet and breezy note here. Rainfall should be lower further north and east, although even these areas may see one or two days with heavy, thundery showers. Temperatures will be around or slightly above average for many areas, with more frequent south or south-easterly winds bringing the highest temperatures to southern and eastern Britain.
Monday 27 May – Sunday 9 June
Higher pressure building more widely over Europe
Towards the end of May, it seems that low pressure areas close to the UK will begin to ease, as we start to see signs of high pressure building north-east from Eastern Europe. Confidence is rather low on exactly when this process will happen and how long it will take, although the most likely outcome is that we will see fronts bringing outbreaks of rain and showers for a few days, before pressure builds nationwide during final days of the month. This will force the typical low pressure track south across southern Europe and the Mediterranean, while it becomes to become drier and calmer across the British Isles through the first part of June. It should become increasingly warm too, with the potential for some very warm weather in the south and south-east.
The southern half of the country will be most at risk of occasional thundery downpours, while Scotland could see essentially dry and calm conditions predominate. However, confidence drops away by this stage, as the jet stream becomes increasingly weak and meandering during the summer months, leading to uncertainty over the potential location of low pressure systems across the North Atlantic, and therefore on how extensive high pressure could be across northern Europe. Indeed, there is a risk that low pressure in the Atlantic continues to dominate our weather into early June, as higher pressure remains well to the east. This could result in some hot plumes of air moving up from the south, but also bring a risk of widespread thunderstorms.
Further ahead
Will central and eastern Britain see any useful rain as we head into June, or will high pressure maintain largely dry weather?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/outlook