Updated Weather Forecast - Thursday 14th July 2011

The topsy-turvy summer continues.

I still think that if you take the summer as a whole, since April, and take it through until the end of September, whilst it will not be remembered as a classic like 2003, it will be remembered as good.

It is certainly an improvement from the previous 4 dreadful summers.

I hope you agree.

Anyway, the details, apart from Friday, it doesn't make pretty reading.  If it is any consolation, there are severe weather warnings out for 18 European countries (the UK isn't one of them) right now.

Friday will be sunny for most of the day, clouding over late in the afternoon with some patchy rain later in the evening, hopefully nothing too heavy, 22'C.
Saturday sees low pressure back in charge, mainly cloudy with some outbreaks of heavy rain - there is a minimal, say 10% chance of getting lucky and only getting a little light rain, perhaps squeeze at 18'C and should finish dry and maybe bright.
Sunday will be quite windy, with showers, but also some sunshine at times, it may even reach 18'C if lucky.  Nature of showers as I regularly point out, mean you could get lucky and stay dry, but also get 10 showers.  There will be plenty around.  Possibly heavy and thundery.
Monday sees a secondary area of low pressure developing as part of the low pressure system, heading for approximately the south of England, or the English channel.  These secondary lows are always hard to predict the exact path of but the most likely outcome is a spell of heavy rain for Reading, and especially anywhere further south.  A chance of missing it, but equally a chance of some very heavy rain.  Maybe only 14'C.  This one won't be certain until Sunday.
Tuesday depends on if Monday happened, if so then sunshine and showers.  Maybe an 18'C.
Wednesday, because of the uncertainty over Monday, I cannot be sure, but I am favouring a cloudy day with some more wind and rain, 18'C.

I am still hopeful of high pressure for next weekend.

Apologies for the uncertainty for Monday onwards but it will be unsettled for a few days, just the horridness of Monday is questionable.

There was a show on BBC1 last night, available on the BBC iplayer, called The Great British Weather.  I think that there are going to be about 4 or 5 episodes, all on a Wednesday night.

The danger of doing a programme on the BBC about a scientific topic about the weather is having to dumb it down enough to the general public without being too condescening, and despite the dumbness of the 3 presenters, they had enough knowledgable folk contributing, and enough scientific explanation to make it well worth a watch, especially if you want to know more about our unique weather pattern in the UK.

I did feel a little like it was the BBC and the Met Office trying to defend their less than glamorous recent forecasting records, but I don't hold them against doing so as they are more accurate than general public opinion would have you believe.