A quick look back at the weather statistics for April shows we had a slightly warmer than average month. The first 10 days or so were warm and sunny but a late cold snap occurred between 24 and 27 April with some snow, hail showers and overnight frosts, but it was also very dry in parts of south east England and around Lothian and Fife.
May has started with high pressure to the north of the UK, bringing an easterly wind. There have been mixed fortunes with sunshine amounts, with some overcast days in south east England but most places enjoyed plenty of spring sunshine. The satellite image taken by the University of Dundee on 4 May - in our main page picture -tells the story well.
The resident high pressure will last until the second week of the month then we are likely to see a change. Low pressure is expected to develop in the nearby Atlantic (to the west of the Bay of Biscay) around 11 May then drift north to become established near NW Scotland for the middle of May. The map above shows the average pressure pattern for the five days starting 11 May. In this setup, temperatures and wind levels will be close to average for the time of year but sunshine amounts could be below average. After a long dry spell, we can expect a much higher chance of some wet days with heavy rain and showers.
There are some weak signals for high pressure to return to Scandinavia for the last five or so days of the month. If this happens, it will bring some pleasant warm late spring days and once again a trend for below average rainfall.
So a typically mixed month of weather is on the cards for May; the driest weather at the beginning and end of the month, with a wetter spell for most of us around the middle of May. We'll be studying the weather maps to look for signs for the Summer weather and let you know the details next time.
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