Weekend Weather Outlook

Weekend Weather 22/23 April '06 in association with GORE-TEX® fabrics

Fact of the Week! A tornado's spinning speed can reach up to 300 mph.

Our regular Friday round-up of what's in store for the weekend. Just check the links for the relevant weather forecasts and if you want to know how things look in a particular area right now, check out the OM web cams page for a selection of hill cams. And whatever you do, have a good one.

Metcheck for good overviews of localised areas based on a number of meteorological models. Loads of quirky options for stuff like rain forecasts plus offbeat, leftfield weather generalisations. Get stuck in and have a browse, there's a lot on this site. The rainfall in the south this afternoon will clear towards evening and, as the cloud will break up overnight, most areas should have a sunny start tomorrow. The sunshine will remain for most of the day, although the cloud will start thickening again towards the evening and a front will cross the country during sunday, bringing outbreaks of rain and cloud to most parts of England and Wales. Temperatures will be respectable on Saturday, rising as high as 18C in the southeast, but they'll drop a couple of degrees on Sunday. You can check out individual areas or dig a bit deeper for the Mountain Forecast page or the Climbing Forecast page. The Seven-Day Charts give a handy overview too.

Mountain Weather Information Service has great downloadable mountain-specific forecasts for NW, W and SE Highlands, Cairngorms, Southern Uplands, Peak District and Lakes in PDF format. Plus a Snowdonia forecast. The Peak and Snowdonia forecasts are now restricted to weekend forecasts and go out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Worth wading through the increasingly cluttered lay-out. New the number of Scottish forecast areas has been increased to give better coverage and now includes the Southern Uplands in addition to the main highland areas England and Wales should have a fine day with plenty of sunshine, and the few clouds hanging around in the morning should clear as the day goes on. Scotland meanwhile will have a rather wetter time of it, with some windy conditions as well, including gusts of up to 60/70 mph. On Sunday, England and Scotland will swap conditions, with Scotland experiencing much calmer and clearer weather while England and Wales wallow in the cloud and drizzle of a passing front. Check individual forecasts for specific details. Arguably the best mountain-specific forecast out there by a way.

BBC Weather Site uses Met Office data, but more user friendly. Just been revamped for the summer, weird stuff but easy access to a lot more information including rain forecasts, cloud, wind, temperature, visibility etc. Nice. Localised forecasts accessible from the same page. Saturday 'Grey start in England and Wales. Warm sunshine developing away from east coast. Strong southwestly wind and rain will push south across Scotland and Northern Ireland.' Sunday 'Dry and mostly sunny in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Showery rain elsewhere will creep towards southeast England. Warm in the southeast before the showers arrive.' BBC specific areas: Fort William / Kendal / Betws-y-Coed / Aviemore / Skipton / Glossop (Peak) / Brecon / Milton Keynes.

Met Office For localised five-day forecasts use this page. Saturday 'Rain spreading across Scotland and Northern Ireland. England and Wales dry with sunny spells developing.' Sunday A low pressure system will move north, bringing unsettled weather in most places, although the rain will only be patchy and light in the southeast. Temperatures will be normal for the time of year, but warm in the south. Welsh Mountain Forecasts Useful online forecasts covering the National Park areas of Snowdonia - and the Brecon Beacons.

Scottish Avalanche Information Service - The last daily avalanche forecast for the season has been and gone. In the winter there are avalanche and climbing condition reports for five major Scottish climbing areas - Lochaber, northern and southern Cairngorms, Glencoe and Creag Meagaidh. But we don't want to think about that for a while yet ...

OUTDOORSmagic web cam page Links to all the UK mountain web cams we're aware of. If there's one that we've missed, please drop us a line and we'll add it to the page. Good for getting a general idea of what the snow situation's like, if the sun is shining, whether there's anywhere to park in Coniston etc. Check the image you're viewing is up to date as they often seem to go down. We'll overhaul this page shortly as some of the links aren't functioning or the cameras have disappeared.

It will be warm, warm, warm, with sustained sunshine on Saturday, and the odd patch of it on Sunday - or the same in reverse if you're in Scotland.
Uh oh, another front's passing. Oh well, at least the showers might not be frozen this time:-)

Verdict Saturday should be mostly fine, and pretty warm, although don't count on it in Scotland, where some strong winds and a fair amount of rain will do their best to make things unpleasant on the tops. Everywhere else, get out and enjoy the sunshine because it might not last until Sunday. There's only one more week left in April after all, so the April showers need to have a bit of fun. They could be making most of England and Wales their playground on Sunday, as a front passes, but the rain will be patchy rather than persistent. No need to put the walking gear away completely and look for a cafe instead, especially in Scotland, where for once the walkers north of the border get their chance to laugh at those trawling through the rain further south.