TRENDS for the week of 25 Feb to 3 Mar 2021 --
-- Temperatures will average near normal values.
-- Rainfall will average 10 to 25 per cent of normal.
-- Sunshine will average near normal, to 25 per cent above normal.
FORECASTS
TONIGHT will be clear to partly cloudy, with slight frosts likely, lows -2 to +3 C.
FRIDAY will see sunshine followed by increasing afternoon cloud, highs
near 10 C. There may be some light rain in western counties by evening.
Overnight, this light rain will move further east but amounts will be
decreasing as the front will be weak and breaking up at this point.
Amounts of 2-5 mm are expected in the west, trace to 2 mm east.
SATURDAY morning may remain cloudy for a while as this frontal cloud
grinds to a halt but it should become at least partly cloudy if not
sunny by afternoon, lows near 4 C and highs near 10 C.
SUNDAY and MONDAY will be dominated by high pressure that is expected to
have some low level moisture trapped, what some might call anticyclonic
gloom -- it probably won't be cloudy everywhere all day, so some
brighter intervals can be expected, more likely or longer lasting
further north and west away from the origin of the cloud to the
southeast. Light winds will prevail. Highs 8 to 10 C and lows dependent
on clear skies or cloud, with a likely range of overnight lows -1 to +5
C.
The further OUTLOOK is for rather bland weather to continue as this high
slowly breaks down but the cloud stays in place, partly to mostly
cloudy days with a slight chance of showers returning towards the end of
the week, and highs generally not far from 10 C. Guidance is indicating
potential for a colder spell of northerly origins around the middle of
the second week of March but only lasting a couple of days before more
average conditions would return.
Peter O'Donnell for IWO