Round the Island race spectator forecast

Wind and synoptic chart

Saturday certainly looks like a rather active day of weather for the annual sailing event! The day will dawn with showers, sometimes merging into longer spells of rain. As the morning goes on we will begin to see the showers becoming less frequent and somewhat lighter, although the winds will be increasing significantly by this time,

Rain map

perhaps gusting as high as 30-35mph around exposed headlands such as the Needles and St Catherine's point and will be blowing from the southwest. As we move into the afternoon we should begin to see the worst of the showery conditions shifting towards the mainland, leaving the island in a fast moving flow of

Wider view rain map and synoptic chart

cloud and occasional hazy sunshine. There is still the chance of the odd rogue shower moving through, but many places will become mostly dry by mid afternoon. The wind during this time will continue to strengthen until around 3pm or 4pm, perhaps with gusts as high as 50mph from

Afternoon wind gust strength

the west-southwest around exposed headlands, maybe even slightly higher at the Needles. The wind will stay with us until at least 6pm before easing back to 25-35mph for the evening.