Met Office Tuesday Afternoon Weather Forecast 20/01/2026

20 January - National Afternoon Forecast presented by Aidan McGivern

Transcript

00:01Hi there. A dry and bright afternoon for parts of eastern UK, but in the west we already

00:07have wet and windy weather setting in and it's going to remain very unsettled across

00:12Northern Ireland, Wales and the south-west during the afternoon. The wind's peaking

00:15at 50-60 mph around exposed coasts and hills of the south-west and south-west Wales. The

00:22strongest wind gusts accompanying the heaviest rain as it slowly edges eastwards during the

00:29afternoon, pushing through Cardiff and Bristol at 4pm. To the east it's drier, it's brighter,

00:36the winds are picking up, the sunshine becoming diminished, but still some brighter spells

00:41across the east of England. Helping temperatures here reach 9-11 celsius, 10 celsius where it's

00:47wet and windy but not feeling very pleasant, of course. Now this system does eventually

00:53move its way eastwards into central parts of the UK during the evening and then it moves

00:58into the east and north-east of Scotland, eastern England during the early hours. Drier to the

01:05east, to the west of that, some clear spells but another area of rain starting to approach

01:11Cornel and showers dotted about as well. So a blustery night to come, a lot of cloud around,

01:17allowing temperatures to remain at 5 or 6 celsius. But it is a turbulent start to Wednesday with low

01:26pressure towards the west. One weather front clearing north-eastwards, another turning up to the

01:32south-west. In between there will be some drier and brighter weather. Northern Ireland for example,

01:37just a few showers. Southern and central Scotland drying up. Northern England drier for a time during

01:42the morning before the next system moves in. A spell of rain, strengthening winds, heavy showers in

01:49places. But it does turn drier by the end of the afternoon for the north and north-east of Scotland,

01:54albeit staying breezy and damp for Shetland and Orkney. This is how it looks on Wednesday

02:00afternoon. Plenty of spells of rain around, some heavy showers towards the south-west,

02:06gusty winds, temperatures reaching 11 or 12 celsius. Colder towards the north, 7 or 8 degrees.

02:13And then those spells of rain and showers just meander across the UK during Wednesday evening

02:18and overnights. And it's more of the same into Thursday spells of rain or showers with low pressure

02:25close by before it turns a little colder into the weekend.