Monday 31st August
It was sunshine and showers on Sunday, the first arriving at 11.30, with at least four others occurring during the afternoon and again around midnight, that amounted to 4.8mm. The variable cloud meant an average day with the maximum reaching 21.3C, being only the second day this month with a below average at -0.3C. Once again the cloud meant a mild night with a minimum of 12.7C at 03.25, which was 0.9C above average.
A little broken sunshine greeted the new day on Monday although there was a lot of cloud associated with the depression that is now over the North Sea.
For the next couple of days a ridge of high pressure is edging up from the southwest that will begin to dampen out the showers although the radar at 08.00 indicated a few very small and light showers were drifting in from the northwest. There will be fewer showers than on Sunday and by Tuesday we should have a fine, dry day. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1009.0mb but is rising rapidly. The breeze will come from the west or west-northwest as the day progresses.
Tomorrow will be the start of meteorological Autumn.
How pressure drives the UK’s journey from summer to autumn
Author: Met Office
Fri, 28 Aug 2026
From summer sunshine to autumn storms, many of the changes we experience in the UK’s weather are connected to atmospheric pressure.
Areas of high and low pressure influence whether our weather is settled or unsettled, while their position and movement can affect everything from temperature and cloud cover to rainfall and wind speed. But what exactly is atmospheric pressure, and why does it matter?
What is atmospheric pressure?
Atmospheric pressure is the force exerted by the Earth’s atmosphere on its surface. It is usually measured in hectopascals, written as hPa, although the term millibars is also sometimes used.
Pressure varies from place to place and over time. Meteorologists are particularly interested in areas where pressure is higher or lower than the surrounding atmosphere, rather than simply looking at one pressure reading in isolation.
These patterns are displayed on surface pressure charts using isobars. These are lines joining places with the same sea-level pressure. High-pressure centres are normally marked with an “H”, while low-pressure centres are shown with an “L”. Weather fronts are also displayed, helping forecasters follow areas of cloud and rain.