Thursday 23 May 2013, 18:00
A forecast for the rest of May, including a glimmer of hope for the all important bank holiday weekend. Plus a look at what's coming up in The Weather Show.
Read more about Outlook for the rest of May
Thursday 23 May 2013, 18:00
An unusually deep area of low pressure for late May will bring widespread North-easterly gales to much of our region in the next 24 hours.
Gusts of around 60mph are possible in coastal areas by the end of the night and into Friday morning; with gusts around 50mph elsewhere.
A Met Office yellow warning is in place.
Friday looks very inclement. Cold, windy and showery conditions will slowly improve as the area of low pressure moves away southwards.
The good news is that the weekend is looking much better.
A ridge of high pressure means that much of Saturday and Sunday will be dry with sunny spells.
With much lighter winds, it will feel warmer too, with temperature recovering to near normal levels for this time of the year.
And although next week will be unsettled and dominated by low pressure, if timings of the next rain bearing weather front remain the same, then much of bank holiday Monday will be dry, too.
In what’s been the coldest spring since 1979, a fine spring bank holiday weekend will be welcome news to the struggling tourist industry.
Don’t forget this weekend’s weather show on BBC local radio across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, featuring amongst other things...
Tuesday 14 May 2013, 16:42
The UK will be affected by some very disturbed weather in the next few days, as two separate weather systems threaten appreciable rainfall to many areas.
The first system will bring heavy rain northwards to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire through this evening.
15-20 mm is expected quite widely across the area in the next 24 hours, with higher totals locally, especially over the Pennines.
Even snow is possible over the higher Pennines later tonight, due to the intensity of rain lowering the air temperature, in a process known as evaporative cooling.
The heavy rain will slowly clear northwards tomorrow, with a return to sunshine and showers on Thursday and Friday.
The next system looks set to move across much of the UK this weekend.
The timing and positioning of this next area of heavy rain is uncertain at this stage, with current projections bringing it into Yorkshire and Lincolnshire later on Saturday.
The heaviest rain may occur to the south of our area – with some parts of the UK in the next 5 days recording a month’s worth of rain.
Farmers and gardeners will welcome the rain following a very dry April, which saw a significant rainfall deficit.
But it’s all rather...
Tuesday 7 May 2013, 16:43
A change in the weather
Temperatures today have reached 23C (73F) at Finningley near Doncaster, making it the warmest day of the year so far, beating Bank holiday Monday’s 22C (72F) recorded in Hull and Sheffield.
But the early taste of summer we’ve been enjoying looks set to be a fleeting affair, with much more unsettled weather on its way from tomorrow.
Traditionally westerly winds are at their weakest in spring, but there’s a strong signal from tomorrow that a westerly pattern will dominate our weather into next week.
Southern Britain could be affected by gales later on Thursday as a vigorous area of low pressure moves across the UK.
All areas will see at least some rainfall.
After a very dry April, the land is now in need of some rain and this news will be welcome for farmers and gardeners.
As ever though with a westerly, eastern and southern areas will see the lowest totals, with northern and western areas seeing the most.
Global temperatures for April
According to the UAH satellite measure, global temperatures fell in April, led by a sharp fall across the Northern Hemisphere.
The global temperature was 0.103C above the 1981-2010 average.
Wednesday 1 May 2013, 17:13
The May day bank holiday weekend has produced some very poor weather over the years; it has arguably the worst track record for weather of any bank holiday.
The very first May day bank Holiday was in 1978.
It turned out to be cold and windy, and in southern Britain, wet, all courtesy of an easterly block.
Here in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire it was cold and grey with extensive low cloud.
Remarkably the country had to wait until 1989 for a fine and warm Bank holiday Monday
There have been a few fine and warm weekends since then, but these, unfortunately, have been the exception to the rule...
Wednesday 24 April 2013, 15:25
I am already receiving questions from viewers asking about this summer’s weather.
As ever, long range forecasting remains the Holy Grail to meteorologists, a complex subject with many different variables.
The wise ones amongst you might even prefer to turn away now!
But one thing we can all agree on is that the run of poor summers now stretches back to 2007; summer that year most of us will want to forget because of the severe flooding that occurred in June.
The culprit is the jet stream which has since 2007, on average, been positioned further south than normal.
In summer this leads...
Read more about Arctic ice and the possible implications for summer 2013
Tuesday 16 April 2013, 16:30
It makes quite a change to report that westerly winds are most likely to dominate our weather for the rest of April, after what has been a very long spell of easterly winds, which lasted through much of February, March and early April.
The change is all down to the Jet stream which in the last few days has moved back to its normal position for the time of the year.
The persistence of the cold easterly wind has been especially noticeable along the east coast, which has at times been battered by heavy seas and gale force winds.
According to the RSPB, at least 1000 sea birds, including Puffins...
Read more about Return of westerly wind brings relief to sea birds
Thursday 4 April 2013, 17:38
Cold easterly reluctant to give way
After a prolonged spell of cold weather throughout much of February and March, dominated by high pressure to the north of the UK and easterly winds, the Atlantic will slowly try to assert itself through next week.
But there’s considerable uncertainty about the timing of any change, with easterly winds in some models reluctant to give way. For example the EC model brings an Atlantic low next week on a more southerly track, delaying the onset of any proper mild air until the following weekend.
The general consensus though is for there to be a slow change...
Thursday 28 March 2013, 17:24
Despite the relentless cold of February and March, there are grounds for a little optimism this Easter weekend which at least is some comfort for the beleaguered tourist industry.
With the jet stream still running through the Mediterranean, a return to milder south-westerly winds remains a long way off, but subtle changes through the weekend offers at least some crumbs of comfort.
Firstly, other than a few wintry showers mainly in eastern areas on Good Friday and Saturday, mostly dry conditions will dominate.
Secondly, by Easter Sunday, the area of high pressure currently to the north of the...
Read more about How cold will March end up? Plus an Easter outlook
Monday 25 March 2013, 16:01
Huge snow drifts with continued cold and strong winds have led to scores of homes being cut off this weekend in what’s turned out to be the heaviest March snowfall since 1979.
At Bradford Lister Park, an official Met Office station, 20cms of snow (8 inches) was recorded, with much larger drifts.
Over the Pennines, accurately measuring how much snow has fallen has proved to be very difficult because of the strong easterly wind.
In many places drifts have reached more than 10 feet deep.
We have to go back to March 1979 for a comparable snow event.
In Bradford, this weekend’s snow was...
Read more about Homes still cut off after deepest March snow since 1979
Thursday 21 March 2013, 15:36
Significant snowfall is expected across parts of the UK on Friday and into the weekend, as mild air once again tries and fails to dislodge the relentlessly cold air that has been such a feature of the weather of late.
Parts of Wales, the Midlands and western parts of Northern England are likely to be worst affected.
For our region, by the end of tonight, snow will be affecting many parts of West and South Yorkshire, and more western parts of North Yorkshire, lasting on and off into the weekend - with Pennine areas most at risk.
Further east, sleet and snow will be patchy in nature at least...
Read more about More snow as March set to be coldest since '69
