Although yesterday was another very warm day in the south, the highest temperature of the day was just 15.6C among official Met Office sites, compared with 18.2C on Thursday. With high pressure covering the southern half of Britain, today is starting off dry and sunny, but we already have a fair amount of rain across western Scotland, and this rain belt will spread south-eastwards across the rest of the country during the afternoon and evening. Although it will cloud over everywhere, rainfall amounts in southern and eastern England will be small, as the frontal system will weaken considerably as it pushes into the high pressure area. It will be less warm than recent days but even so temperatures will be a little above the late-February average, reaching 8 to 11C in most parts of the country. Winds will be light over England and Wales but there will be a stiff westerly breeze across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Tonight will be cloudy and it will be a mild night as a result, with temperatures struggling to get any lower than 5 or 6C, but a touch of frost is possible locally in southern England where there is more chance of holding onto clearer skies.

During Sunday the front will get out of the way quite quickly but we will see more fronts piling into western areas. For most of England and Wales it will be dry with some sunny intervals and highs of 11 to 13C, perhaps reaching 14 or 15C locally, but north and west Wales will tend to cloud over as the day goes on. Eastern Scotland and north-east England will have a dry and sunny start to the day, and a cloudier afternoon. Across Ireland, western Scotland and north-west England, with a westerly regime and fronts close by, it will be a dull day with some light rain and drizzle, and temperatures will be suppressed under the cloud sheet, though still quite mild for the time of year at around 10C.

Into next week, Monday will be a cloudy day across most of the country as weak fronts head in off the Atlantic bringing cloud and some belts of rain, heaviest in western Scotland but generally light and patchy across eastern and southern England. Despite the cloud it will be another warm day with highs of 14-15C in parts of central and southern England. During Tuesday and Wednesday high pressure will push up from the south, although there is some uncertainty over how far north the ridge of high pressure will penetrate. As a result, most of England, south and east Wales and eastern Scotland are likely to become dry and increasingly sunny while holding onto notably high daytime temperatures of 12 to 15C, but western and northern Scotland, Northern Ireland, north and west Wales and north-west England are likely to hold onto a lot of cloud with some light rain and drizzle.

Thus a pretty mild spell of weather to end the winter quarter of 2011/12- wintry weather doesn’t look like making a return as we head into March either.

Issued: Sat 25/02 09:56