Autumnal April expected in Latvia this week

The Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre predicts that the new working week in Latvia will be rainy, cool and windy.

Last week started with sunny and spring-like warm weather, but by the end of the week, a much colder air mass had moved into Latvia, and it was snowing in many places, with the snow cover reaching up to ten centimetres in places.

This week, as a large cyclone moves in from the east, precipitation, mainly rain and wet snow, is expected at times over most of Latvia. Winds will pick up, gusting up to 22 metres per second (m/s) in places along the coast on Tuesday.

Overnight temperatures will remain below freezing, with minimum temperatures in the plus zone in parts of the west and along the coast. During the day, the air temperatures will range between 2 C to 8 C.

On Monday, the sky will be cloudy and there will be some sunshine. Light precipitation is expected at night and during the day. North winds will blow, gusting up to 14 m/s. The air will cool to -2 to -7 C at night, but only to -1 C to -2 C in western cloud-covered areas. During the day, the air temperatures will be 2 to 6 C, while in western areas it will be a few degrees warmer.

Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be similar. The skies will clear at times, but precipitation, mainly wet snow and rain, is expected at times. Northerly winds will continue, gusting up to 15 m/s during the day in central and eastern areas. On Wednesday, winds will turn from the west, gusting to 15-19 m/s, and up to 22 m/s in places along the coast.

At night, minimum temperatures are expected to be in the range of -1 to 6 C, around -2 C to 3 C on the coast, and during the daylight hours temperatures will rise to 2 C to 8 C.

In the second half of the week, clouds will cover the sky, bringing precipitation, mainly rain and wet snow, over most of the country. A new snow cover of a few centimetres could develop in eastern parts of the country on Friday. Winds will remain gusty in many areas, and temperatures will remain below freezing at night.

So far, the weather forecasters do not predict much better weather conditions next weekend, but spring-like weather could return to Latvia later.