UK forecast - weekend of 30 Nov-1 Dec

The Daily Sail forecaster Libby Greenhalgh reads the tea leaves

General Outlook:

Saturday will see a similar start to the morning as today (Friday), with calm conditions providing a misty start as a ridge of high pressure dominates the south of the British Isles. The low pressure system centred off the southern tip of Greenland is the key feature for the weekend. The progress of this pressure centre will see a change in conditions between Saturday and Sunday’s weather as the centre pushes across the northern Atlantic through Saturday to become the dominate system on the Sunday.

Saturday’s calm and misty conditions will move off by midday as the low pressure centre pushes across and the leading frontal systems provide wet weather across the western part of the UK. Conditions in the Solent will see the wind increasing from the morning calm to around 8 knots from the south west with the clear skies slowly clouding over as a warm front pushes in from the west. Look for the high cirrus cloud (thin wispy cloud) signalling the approaching warm front. This cloud will thicken and lower throughout the afternoon bringing light rain. By late afternoon the stronger winds of Sunday will be pushing in with the wind increasing to 12-14 knots.

The trailling cold front will be the key feature for Sunday producing heavy rain and generally wet conditions for the racing. It will also provide an increase in wind strength and a change in direction. Winds of 15-18 knots from the south by southwest in the morning will increase in the afternoon to 20 knots and more from the west as the surface cold front reaches the Solent at midday. Similarly to last weekend there will be large cloud structures providing their own influence on the conditions of the day in both wind strength and direction, so keep your eyes out the boat.

The synoptic forecast for midday Sunday clearly shows a large trough in the isobars across the centre of the UK indicating the position of the cold front which is in co-location with heavy rainfall highlighted by the purple (light rain) to green (heavy rain) colours on the chart. It would be a good idea to check out the satellite image on Saturday evening or Sunday morning at www.sat.dundee.co.uk , look for a thick cloud band in a general north south trend to identify the approaching cold front.

See the Bracknell synoptic charts for Sat and Sun