Solent forecast for 27 April

The Daily Sail meteorologist Libby Greenhalgh predicts rain and greyness

The weekend will be dominated by a low pressure system and strong south westerly winds. As the low pressure off the western edge of Irelend holds for the weekend. The frontal systems will push through early this morning leaving the day with a damp start but clear skies. Sunday will the low centre move northwest and weaken. But in the Solent a weak occluded cloud band will provide overcast and wet conditions as second low pressure system spins up off Spain.

Saturday will see the wind build across the day and veer as the low pressure progresses. Early morning will see fairly light winds at only 6-8 knots from the south southeast around 150 degrees. The wind will build towards a steady 8-10 knots by midday with direction veering towards the south. Across the afternoon the wind will continue to build reaching towards 20 knots by early evening. Look out for the wind continuing to veer towards the southwest direction expected for Sunday.

The day should clear up becoming drier with maximum temperatures of 14degC, but there is a risk of thunderstorms.

Sunday will provide the stronger wind of the weekend from the UK prevailing wind direction with wind speeds at 18 -20 knots from the southwest (210 – 240).

The wind speed will remain steady across the morning, while the wind direction may back towards the south as the second low pressure spins up. Across the afternoon and into early evening the wind will back towards the south and slowly decrease to 12 knots.

The day will be overcast and wet, with an occluded frontal band pushing through just before midday. Temperatures will remain at 14°C but will feel cooler in the strong winds.

The chart shows midday Sunday. The pink to blue shading represents rain which is clearly dominant over the UK. The light blue (isobar) lines show the surface pressure and indicate the wind strength and direction. The isobars are tightly packed across the Solent suggesting wind strengths in the region of 20 knots. The wind direction is almost parallel to the isobars except that for everything to be in balance the wind, in simple terms, must go from high to low pressure. Therefore the wind cuts the isobars at a slight angle towards the low, making the direction south west.

See the Bracknell charts for midnight tonight (Saturday), for midday Sunday and midnight Sunday or see Bracknell's animation here (not recommended for dial up users)

1200 Saturday 26 April



1200 Sunday 27 April