Friday 6th December 2024

A busy weekend with Storm Darragh on the way, followed by a fairly cold blast from the north, though then settling down next week again.

The general picture sees our previous low pressure moving away today – and Storm Darragh developing to the west.

Friday starts sunny. High cloud will arrive during the morning, and it will slowly thicken during the day – but will remain bright with hazy sunshine. Around 8’C. Bits and pieces of rain possible by late afternoon, but more so in the evening. Outbreaks of rain until around midnight, give or take, then mostly dry, and becoming windy. Up to 13’C in the evening rain, but dropping after.

Saturday sees further rain spread down from the north-west, mostly light or moderate rain, but the odd heavy burst possible. Quite persistent for a time in the morning, more showery in the afternoon. Feeling much colder in the strong wind, gusts up to 50mph possible though strong winds all day. 50mph is enough for some isolated damage/disruption but isn’t out of the usual for winter. 6’C at best. Strong winds continue overnight, bits and pieces of light/moderate rain possible at times too.

By Sunday, Storm Darragh will be focused over Belgium/Netherlands, but still close enough for us to have strong winds, from the north-east – the North Sea is still relatively mild, but if it were January/February then this set-up could allow snow. As it is, we’ll be cloudy with bits and pieces of rain, sometimes dry, sometimes raining, and feeling cold in the strong north-easterly wind, around 7’C. Overnight remaining mostly cloudy, dry most of the time but still some bits of light rain possible, and winds easing somewhat. Around 6’C.

By Monday, the remnants of Storm Darragh will be towards Sardinia, and we’ll have high pressure building to our north.

Mostly cloudy, some occasional bits of light rain – a few glimpses of sunshine possible and around 7’C. Still quite windy, but not like it has been. Cloudy overnight, down to around 4’C.

Tuesday has some uncertainty on cloud amounts – more likely on the cloudier side of the spectrum, but I wouldn’t rule out something on the sunnier side. Still chilly in the easterly breeze, around 6’C. More likely on the cloudy side overnight, so around 3’C – but clearer skies and a frost possible instead.

For the rest of the week, high pressure will remain in control. Uncertainty remains in terms of cloud amounts for each day and overnight – any clearing of skies overnight will allow frost and possibly fog. But otherwise it will just remain chilly.

Daytime temperatures around 6’C whether cloudy or sunny, night will depend on cloud amounts – around 5’C if cloudy, below 0’C if not.

Uncertain for next weekend as to whether high pressure can hold on – I think we’ll revert back to unsettled the week after, if not next weekend – the timing of the switch is uncertain.

I’ve half-written the winter forecast, I hope to finish it tomorrow on the train to Somerset…fingers crossed Storm Darragh doesn’t have other ideas. Have a pleasant weekend…and do keep an eye on Met Office warnings for Storm Darragh.