Changeable Weather to Hit UK After Unusually Warm and Dry Spell
The UK can expect a mixed bag of weather this week, with rain, sunshine, and showers forecast across the country. According to meteorologists at the Met Office, the changeable weather is a welcome respite from the dry spell that has dominated the UK’s weather so far this April.
In an interview with The Guardian, Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said: "Changeable probably sums it up nicely. The rain is going to be fairly welcome news for the gardeners, because it’s been actually very dry up until now. [For] April to date, rainfall figures are well below where they should be." The Guardian reported that the average rainfall figure for April nationally is 71mm, but the UK has only had 27.2mm so far, or 38% of the April average.
The UK’s dry spell has been a cause for concern, particularly for firefighters battling wildfires across the country. The UK has had one of the worst wildfire seasons on record, following one of the driest Marches in decades combined with warmer than average temperatures in April. Abergwesyn Common in Powys, Wales was consumed by a 1,600 hectare (3,950 acre) fire, an area roughly 400 times the size of Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. Wales’s three fire services said they had responded to more than 1,300 grass fires this year.
As reported by The Guardian, the rain is expected to be heaviest in parts of Wales, central southern England, and Northern Ireland, while the eastern parts of the country will enjoy drier and brighter skies. Stroud added: "It will cloud over from the west late in the day, with a band of heavy rain and strong and gusty winds arriving across England and Wales, pushing into Northern Ireland, southern Scotland during the overnight period into Wednesday morning."
The weather forecast for the rest of the week is expected to be unsettled, with sunny spells and showers on Wednesday afternoon giving way to a generally dry and settled spell of weather on Thursday. However, The Guardian quoted Stroud as saying that this too will be short-lived, with another band of cloud and rain slowly edging in from the west towards the end of the week, and more especially next weekend.
The recent wildfires have caused significant damage to land and wildlife habitats. On the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, recent fires scorched land used by wildlife including small heath butterflies, rove beetles, skylarks, and peregrine falcons. At Howden Moor in the Peak District, the National Trust said a recent fire that stretched for about three miles had caused £30,000 worth of damage. As The Guardian reported, a helicopter was used to douse a wildfire with water on the Isle of Bute on 10 April.
In conclusion, the UK’s weather is set to be changeable this week, with a mix of rain, sunshine, and showers forecast across the country. While the rain will be a welcome respite from the dry spell, it comes too late for some areas that have been ravaged by wildfires. As The Guardian reported, the Met Office is urging people to be prepared for the changeable weather, with temperatures expected to be within the seasonal average of 14C (57F) to 18C (64F).
