Stop! Weather Time...

Unlike Gillian McKeith, the Weather Doc has a real PhD and doesn't sift through other people's poo for cash. Instead he pans the meteorological gold in the gushing stream that is netweather.tv to bring you the very latest in Glastonbury festival weather forecasts. Thanks Weather Doc, you sexy bastard.


OK, OK, so it's been quiet here and nothing seems to have happened in a while, but hold on there weather fans because we have been in top secret and highly hush hush need to know only basis talks with the marvellous and very friendly people at www.netweather.tv. Their massive computing power, satellite feeds, radar systems, and above all quilted balsam toilet paper and a fancy coffee machine, combined with the superior brain power of *ahem* me, GFF is now able to bring you, live an' direc' from our secret re-enforced concrete bunker, THE FIRST FULL ON IN YOUR FACE FESTIVAL FORECAST.

Suck on that!

So, while other websites have dithered & fannied with a percentage point here, a rainfall symbol there, the professionals here can give you the juice, personally, in your eyes in a massive meteorological bukkake.

Enough self-aggrandisement, let's get down to business. The main things occurring atmospherically over the festival will be dictated by a nice sized (but not over strong) high pressure system over the Azores, and how it manages when it squares up against low pressure systems hovering over Iceland and mainland Europe. When low & high pressure systems meet that usually means one thing: clouds. And another thing: rain.

What the models suggest is that this high pressure system will extend a delicate finger-like lobe across the UK as the festival progresses, and this lobe gradually expands as we move towards the weekend. All the time, however, the system is at risk from being cut off from the larger warm air mass over the Azores as other ones push in on it from the north & south. This situation continues until things seem to start consolidating on Friday, with high pressure building over the whole of the UK & pushing away the frontal systems.

Things start to deteriorate by Saturday however as our weather is squeezed from the west by a deepening low over Iceland. By Sunday afternoon & certainly by Monday, we are thoroughly swamped in cloud systems.

BUT - will all this bring any rain with it? Well, looking at the charts it soon becomes obvious why the big guns have been hedging their bets. The festival is right on the edge of the rainfall patterns battering away at the warmer moist high pressure air. Luckily for us it means that any rain that does fall is likely to be either very light drizzle or in quick bursts. Predicted rainfall over 12 hour periods looks to be no more than a couple of millimetres - nothing over 12 hours, but a decent couple of showers if we're unlucky. That's pretty much the picture for Wednesday & Thursday - the site on the edge of rain systems but not too much of it, just the odd shower here & there. It will, however, be pretty cool - temperatures over Wednesday & Thursday are nothing special, around the 15 Celsius mark give or take a couple of degrees. Be prepared with those hoodies.

By Friday afternoon things are beginning to look a lot nicer. The temperature perks up a couple of degrees and the rainclouds are shoved out of the way be the strengthening high pressure. The clouds aren't too far distant mind - a slight change in conditions could place them over the site again. Saturday should be clear and getting warmer! Sunday has the potential to be the warmest day but the high pressure dominating the country as a whole begins to break down & things could well return to the cooler & slightly damp conditions of earlier in the event. Monday could be a drab affair, & a damp drive home, particularly later in the day, but again, nothing too dramatic.

So, what does all that mean? Well, overall it's a 'meh'. Cool and slightly damp feeling early on, much warmer over the main part of the festival but always the threat of showers. Cool breezes are likely to take the edge off any sunshine that we do have in the first half of the festival. Take something warm, & don't rely on sandals: there's a big lump of rain predicted before the festival, so while it'll be easy to get those pegs in the saturated ground will turn sticky very quickly in the showers & under all our feet BUT there's no need for wellies at this stage!

So, there you have it - our very first hand tooled bespoke forecast for Glastonbury. Keep your eyes peeled on this site as we go back to the computers over at www.netweather.tv to see how things are developing. Don't forget, the nearer we get to festival time the more reliable this forecast page will be.

Labels: Glasto Festival Forecast, netweather.tv