The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the South West region tomorrow (April 12) with strong winds and heavy rain spreading eastwards. But summer may be around the corner as a ‘soft heatwave’ has been predicted for the second half of April by another forecaster, and the Met Office also says "above average" temperatures are on the way.
A swathe of strong winds will potentially bring some disruption on Wednesday. The yellow warning will be in place from 6am until 8pm tomorrow, covering most of the South West and parts of the South East as well as some areas of Wales. It currently stops just south of Bristol but does cover areas nearby including Weston-super-Mare and other parts of North Somerset.
Heavy rain is forecast in Bristol later and the Met's outlook for the South West says rain will be spreading eastwards tonight with blustery showers are forecast with temperatures dropping to around 5C. Further gales and strong winds on Wednesday with a possibility of rain with hail and thunder with longer spells of rain in the afternoon.
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On Thursday, the weather is predicted to settle with sunny spells and showers forecast into Friday. Saturday should be largely dry and cloudy.
According to Wales Online, British Weather Services senior meteorologist, Jim Dale has forecast temperatures could start rising from April 15. He said: “We do get heatwaves in April, it does happen.
“It’ll be a soft heatwave for the second half of April, it could get somewhere in the mid-20s pushing to May in that general direction. I can’t be overly detailed at the moment, but the signs are there for this kind of change - it’s when you see the charts going in that direction.”
The forecast is based on the interactive maps and weather models which show a plume of warm air hitting northern France on Wednesday 17 April. This is expected to bring temperatures to 20C in London.
In the north, temperatures could rise to 19C. Coastal areas such as Norfolk and Sussex will see slightly lower temperatures than inland areas. Mr Dale said that the ground and sea have to warm up for temperatures to start rising.
He said: “We are still waiting for our first UK named storm of the year. We have had continental storms - and we had about six by this time last year.
“This year we have had none. But that doesn’t yet mean we are out of the woods as next week it does get a bit gravelly.”
The Met Office has not confirmed reports of a 'heatwave' on the way but it's long-range forecast for the South West, for the second half of the month, is for a more settled weather pattern with “temperatures are most likely to be above average overall for the time of year.”
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