Chapter 1: What weather changes can we expect this weekend?
Now, warmer than average weather is on the way. Matthew Martin, meteorologist at Metairn, is here to tell us all about it. Morning, Matthew. Good morning, David. I think people are probably a bit unreasonably excited about the prospect of some good weather. But in fairness, after the weather we've seen in recent months, they could be excused for being too excited.
Yes, of course, we did have a very wet winter and early spring, particularly across the east and southeast of the country. And even in the southeast, it was the second wettest winter since records began in 1942. And that was only surpassed by the washout of the winter we had in 2016.
So, of course, the settled weather that we're expecting this weekend and into next week is, of course, a welcome change.
Chapter 2: How does recent weather history influence current excitement?
But it's not going to be all clear for the weekend. We do have some showers moving up particularly in the south and west tonight. So that's something to keep an eye on. But otherwise, the weekend is looking mostly dry with a mix of clouds and sunny spells and temperatures getting up to between about 15 and 21 degrees.
That's pretty pleasant. Is that unusual for this time of year?
No, it wouldn't necessarily be too unusual. We do have obviously settled and warm weather sometimes in April. Temperature is about two or three degrees above the norm over the next seven days.
Chapter 3: What temperatures are forecasted for the weekend?
But nothing too unusual really for this time of year.
OK, so slap on the sunscreen if you're out on it. Is it too early? I presume it is too early to know whether this settled spell, nice, pleasant spell is going to last into the bank holiday weekend?
So it looks at the moment like it's going to push out until the middle of next week, perhaps later next week. There's lots of uncertainty, though, in the forecast from around Thursday of next week. But there is certainly still some hope that it will hang on through the bank holiday weekend.
Okay, well, we can only live in hope. And in terms of the next couple of weeks, next couple of months, is it too early again to have any forecasts about what the weather is like? Are we going to have a good summer, basically?
Chapter 4: Is it too early to predict summer weather patterns?
I'm going to put you on the spot, Matthew. Are we going to have a good summer?
Unfortunately, I couldn't give you too much. that. But at the moment, certainly there are indications that the high pressure that we have at the moment will likely break down kind of after next weekend anyway. But beyond that, it's very much probabilistic forecasting and very uncertain.
Okay. Well, listen, Matthew Martin, meteorologist at Metairn, thank you so much for joining us with some good news about the weather for a change. We'll be back after this.