Weekend Forecast

You don't need me to tell you its been a disappointing autumn so far, and as usual it’s all down to the weather. But is this about to change? I’ve applied my amateur ornitho-meteorology and have my finger crossed for the weekend.

I’ve been studying weather maps courtesy of the Met Office website. Today’s surface pressure chart is typical of our recent weather; lows across the north of the country produce a stream of moist westerlies; migrating birds stay well to the east of the UK.



But fast forward to Friday, and for the first time in weeks things have changed. A high has become established over North Germany. This pushes the lows to the north of the UK, and the air circulating round the high drift over from the continent to the UK. This produces a SE wind over the south-east of England.



So migrants arrive in numbers! Or do they? My limited knowledge is that ideally the high is more northerly so the winds are more directly easterly, and a low to the south would produce a blocking band of rain. The winds on offer this Friday are weak, and possibly not strong enough to divert birds from their southerly route.

Fingers crossed.