to come in the forecast over the next few days. for friday, the heavy rain slowly ease away from the south east, then leaving a trail of sunny spells and scattered showers behind and the winds remaining quite a feature. strongest of the winds, heaviest of the rain over the next few hours certainly across higher ground of wales. that frontal system will continue to push its way south—east, plenty of showers into western scotland and northern ireland as well. so, we're likely to start off on friday with the wettest weather out towards the west. 0ur frontal system will ease slowly from the south—east corner, leaving a window of sunshine behind, but still the risk of a few squally showers on exposed west—facing coasts. temperatures peaking at 17—18 degrees, so a degree or so up, with a little more sunshine coming through. but then as we move into the weekend, there's more wet and windy weather to come, with gale—force gusts of winds at times and some of the rain really quite persistent. take care.