Heavy rain, thunderstorms and biting winds are set to batter the UK over the next few days before warmer weather arrives just in time for a weekend barbecue.
The UK is in the middle of three days of showers and unsettled weather that has been forecast by the Met Office due to a “revved up jetstream” that is bringing storms from the Atlantic.
After high temperatures for much of May and a warm weekend, people will have had to dig out their coats and umbrellas as unseasonably poor conditions have hit.
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A “small tornado” was even spotted in the sky over the English Channel on Tuesday morning, looking east from Broadstairs shortly before midday, reported the Mirror.
Met Office forecaster Clare Nasir said: “Windy on Wednesday and Thursday before things slowly settle down from the south on Friday and the promise of some sunshine on Saturday.
She continued: "Rain then makes inroads across Scotland, Wales as well as the West Country through the early hours of the morning (today) and yes a lively end to the night here and a cool one towards the South East under some clearer skies but some brighter weather to start the day on Wednesday.
"But not the case in Scotland, it is a wet and windy start, away from Shetland you could see some brighter skies before the cloud thickens and then you’ll see the rain. The rain descends down towards Cumbria and Northumberland as well as the northwest of England.
"Northern Ireland seeing some rain, some showers hot on the heels of that rain and that wet weather descends down to Wales. The West Country some showery bursts just ahead of it.”
In the east of the country, there could be brighter spells this morning before the cloud and rain hits.
Then from the west, more rain comes in from the Atlantic during the day.
"A lot of showers. Now these showers will be heavy with the risk of thunder across Scotland, especially northern and central parts, a strong biting wind here,” added Ms Nasir.
By Friday, though, the weather will start to improve said BBC weather's Stav Danaos, and the weekend should see more sunny spells but there will still be some wind and rain.
He said: "On Friday the temperature is expected to start rising as warmer weather moves north and so the mercury could hit 20C in the south of England.
"Friday and into this coming weekend, high pressure looks to dominate the scene although we will start to pick up northerly winds and these winds will be quite brisk across northern and eastern parts of the country, they will feed in a bit of cloud and it will feel a lot cooler.
"The best of the sunshine will be further south and west where we are likely to see around 20C, much cooler further north certainly close to the coast across the north and the east. Similar story on Sunday.”
UK weather forecast
Today:
Rain moving slowly southeastwards across England and Wales, though remaining bright and fairly warm in parts of the south and East Anglia; breezy. Sunny spells further north but cooler and windy, with possible coastal gales; heavy showers across northern Scotland.
Tonight:
Patchy rain and low cloud will cross southern areas of Wales and England, clearing later. Scattered showers continuing across northern Scotland, perhaps heavy. Many other areas are clearer and chilly.
Friday:
Many southern and central areas have plenty of sunshine and lighter winds, meaning that it should feel reasonably warm by afternoon. Northern Scotland sees sunny intervals and scattered sharp showers.
Outlook for Saturday to Monday:
Cooler and showery, mostly in the east at first, more widespread from Sunday. Warmer, and sunnier in the west after cold mornings. Feeling rather cold in the east coastal fresh breeze.
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