Wet and windy conditions will continue to dominate as we head towards the weekend, thanks largely to the position of the jet stream.  

Speaking in the Met Office 10-Day Trend, Meteorologist and Presenter Aidan McGivern said: “The jet stream is approaching the UK from the west and sending us further areas of low pressure, with tightly packed isobars across the UK. That continues to be the case as further low-pressure systems deepen and get sent in from the west.  

“It’s going to stay blustery, with some strong gusts in the west in particular and these lows will continue to send us outbreaks of rain and showers heading into the weekend.” 

A warning for rain has been issued for the southwest and much of south Wales from late on Wednesday through to Thursday afternoon and further warnings could be issued in the coming days. Stay up to date with the latest warnings on the Met Office website.  

Aidan McGivern continued: “With all that wet weather coming in, there are concerns, particularly for those areas that have already seen so much rain across western England and Wales. The wettest weather is likely to see 60-80mm falling across the Brecon Beacons and Exmoor.”  

Further persistent rain will move in on Friday night and into Saturday, with the focus for the heaviest rain likely to be further north, including north Wales, northern England and Scotland, though many areas will still see periods of rain into the weekend. 

A change on the way 

Temperatures will dip through the weekend and into next week, with the jet stream one of the driving forces behind this change.  

“Next week, the jet stream is a bit more amplified and it’s coming at the UK from the northwest rather than from the west like recent days. This subtle change into the start of next week will see colder weather coming in and rather than prolonged bouts of rain from the west, we’re likely to see rain and showers coming from the northwest,” said Aidan McGivern.  

“These showers from the north could fall as snow over the high parts of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland later in the weekend, and as we move through next week often below average temperatures could support a mixture of rain, hail sleet and snow. Most of any snow accumulation is likely over higher parts of the northern UK. 

“However, at this point significant differences in the computer models emerge. Most solutions lead to some unsettled weather, but the distribution of the rainfall and where we’re likely to see any snow varies as well. On Tuesday next week, the greatest risk of snow will be across northern parts of the UK, perhaps central areas and mostly over the hills.” 

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