Hi all,

Yes it’s nearly May, yes the Bank Holidays are coming, yes it is still cold, so where is the warm weather? The search continues…….

Another Arctic blast of cold air gave some wintry showers this week with plenty of hail, sleet and even snow showers peppering the region but as we head into this forecast, the northerly air supply is set to be cut off as the weather pattern changes.

It will be a cold start on Thursday and as well as a frost in places there is a risk of some localised sleet or snow around, especially above 200M. This will ease away quickly to give a dry slot with bright spells. The cloud will increase into the afternoon and into the evening and overnight there will be some rain with a chance of this turning to sleet and snow on the hills. One to watch and a late bite from the current cold spell. Max 8°C.

The low pressure bringing the rain, sleet and snow will be in charge of the weather on Friday. A cold windy day with further wintry showers which will tend to turn more to rain as the day progresses. Max 8°C.

Low pressure in charge this Friday

The good news about the weekend is that temperatures will start to recover and we will get a reasonable day out of it.

A chilly start on Saturday with a ground frost, but hopefully a good day ahead with plenty of sunny spells and mainly dry conditions. We’d be very unlucky to catch a shower but with the ridge of high pressure only weak, they can’t be ruled out. Slightly milder and with the sunshine’s UV levels now at 5 it will feel pleasant. Max 11°C.

All change on Sunday. The Atlantic returns as cloud thickens from the west bringing outbreaks of rain, some heavy. Max 10°C.

It’s looking wet on Sunday with rain from the west

As for Bank Holiday Monday it looks showery, as do the following few days, with temperatures slowly returning to normal. It looks likely that another cold spell won’t arrive, ruling out the chance of any snow in May! That’s my thinking anyway! 🙂

Long-range there is a sign of some warmth, week commencing the 9th of May, especially later on in the week, with temperatures getting close to, or into the 20s. Watch this space.

A long way off – but is this our first warm spell?

Follow @ChadWeather on Twitter to catch all the latest weather updates for Manchester and its surrounding boroughs.

Photos/Data: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk, http://www.netweather.tv.

Forecast issued at 13:25 on Wednesday the 27th of April 2016

Thanks for reading,

Jon