Archived articles which have appeared on our homepage since May 7th 2014.
[Updated 07:20 01/05/2018]
The next couple of days bring showers or longer spells of rain to all regions. However a big change takes places during the second half of the week as high pressure builds close to the UK.
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Tuesday starts with outbreaks of rain in Northern Ireland and the Western Isles but elsewhere it is dry and cold. Overnight temperatures plunged to -3C (27F) in Benson, Oxfordshire and -4C (25F) in Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway.
The rest of the day will be dry and bright in central and eastern regions. In the west cloud builds and outbreaks of ran in Northern Ireland push into western Britain this afternoon.
DWD ICON 00z, forecast precipitation, 16:00 BST Tue 1st May
Temperatures range from 8C (46F) in the north west to 14C (57F) in the south east. Those values aren't great for the start of May but in the south east they are a lot higher than yesterday's when it was exceptionally cold. See the rain radar for the latest view.
Tonight the wet weather pushes southeastwards By the end of the night rain is likely in much of England but showery conditions return to the north and west of the UK. Over high ground in Scotland the showers could fall as snow.
Tomorrow the rain edges steadily southeastwards. In the south eastern corner it remains wet for much of the day but elsewhere it becomes brighter and showery.
DWD ICON 00z, forecast precipitation, 16:00 BST Wed 2nd May
By Thursday a change to warmer and more settled weather begins shaping up as high pressure builds from the Azores northeastwards. Through Friday and the weekend the area of high pressure is expected to become centred over or just to the northeast of the UK.
Thursday should be mostly dry in southern and central regions with variable amounts of cloud. In the north it remains more mixed and there is a risk of rain which could be heavy in the west.
Friday looks dry and pleasantly warm in southern and central regions. The north remains cloudier and outbreaks of rain continue in the west.
Unusually it looks like the fine conditions in the south will extend northwards in perfect synchronicity with the arrival of the Bank Holiday weekend. On Saturday cloudier and damper conditions are probable in the far north west but elsewhere it should be fine and quite warm. Temperatures could reach 21C (70F) in much of the country.
At the moment the expectation is that temperatures will continue to rise on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday. However there is uncertainty about the forecast details. Low pressure centred over France may start to feed thundery downpours into southern counties and another area of low pressure in the Atlantic may be close to the north west.
GFS 00z, forecast pressure and precipitation, 16:00 BST Mon 7th May
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Check the latest satellite images, computer model charts and rain radar:
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Upper air temperatures climb to well above the 30 year average during the first week of May before gradually dipping away. After the first couple of days of May most of the ensemble runs show it becoming mostly dry but the risk of wet weather increases from about May 7th. View latest GEFS.
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