Skandia Cowes Week weather

Libby Greenhalgh looks ahead at what's in store for the UK's biggest week long regatta

Thursday July 28th 2005, Author: Libby Greenhalgh, Location: United Kingdom
It has been a rather unsettled week though with some welcome rain. The slightly damp conditions look set to continue over the weekend and the start of Skandia Cowes week.

General Situation:

The low pressure system and its associated frontal system that have been affecting the country for the last two days will continue to affect the UK until early Sunday.

The low pressure currently centred over Cornwall will have edged northwards through Friday only to return south again on Saturday. The low pressure is expected to the south of Cornwall on Saturday and will maintain a light to moderate southerly flow over the Solent.

As the low pressure continues to sink southwards the wind will back to the north as a ridge of high pressure builds through Sunday and into Monday. The high pressure will become the dominant feature on Monday and into Tuesday centred over the Solent. Conditions are likely to be fairly cloudy with a very light sea breeze.

Looking to the latter part of the week - the high pressure system starts to break down through Wednesday as a front moves erractically southwards with an unstable west to north westerly flow that looks set to cover the area for the rest of the period.

Saturday (click here to download the Bracknell synoptic chart)

AM: Most likely a southerly possible backing as far as the southeast with 08-12 knots gradually decreasing as the morning progresses. This depends exactly on where the low is centred. It is expected just south of Cornwall at midday moving south. Therefore through the afternoon into the evening the wind will continue to back and decrease as the low edges away.

PM: A decreased south easterly 05-08 knots to start with but backing slowly to the north east.

Weather: Cloudy with the occasional shower.

Sunday (click here to download the Bracknell synoptic chart)

A north to north easterly wind of 10 knots at first will gradually decrease across the day to 3-5 knots from the northeast. The wind is likely to become variable in direction in the late afternoon as the high pressure ridge continues to build from the west and the sea breeze cell tries to develop.

With a fair amount of cloud expected conditions for a sea breeze developing are far from ideal.

Monday and Tuesday (sea breeze days)

The domination of a high pressure system centred over the Solent will mean that the wait for the sea breeze will begin. It will depend exactly on where the high pressure will be centred as to which of the sea breeze directions will dominate and the strength of the wind.

With less cloud than Sunday, Monday should be fairly warm day with a little wait around for the sea breeze to settle. With the likely situation of the two sea breezes (southeast and southwest) battling it out.

But a top tip in this situation, where the two are fighting it out, is try and hug a shoreline as that is where the most wind will be.

Tuesday will still be dominated by the high pressure but it will have begun to sink southwards. This will mean a southwesterly wind with a thermal enhancement likely to pick the morning 05-08 knots up to 15 knots in the afternoon.

Wednesday Onwards

The high pressure system will slip slowly south as a weak frontal feature moves southeastwards over the country. The front is expected to affect the Solent through Wednesday bringing increasing amounts of cloud an slight rain.

The wind will begin in the southwest on Wednesday and gradually veer to the west on and then further to the northwest for the remainder of the period. With wind speeds in the region of 08-15 knots for the latter part of the week.

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