91Èȱ¬

As you'll know from watching the Ryder Cup; October got off to a wet start...

John Goodger, who runs a weather station in Velindre near Glasbury in Powys, has already recorded 73mm of rain, nearly 3 inches, which is almost 80% of the monthly average rainfall for that location.

Thankfully, I think we've seen the worst of the heavy rain for a while. In fact there's a dry and warmer spell of weather on the way later this week.

South-easterly winds are heading our way from the Med and will bring warmer air northwards into Wales on Friday, so we could be in for an Indian Summer.

The term "Indian Summer" actually dates back to the 18th century in the United States. It can be defined as "any spell of warm, quiet, hazy weather that may occur in October or even early November."

It's characteristic for these conditions to last from a few days to well over a week.

There is some dispute as to the origins of the phrase Indian Summer. One explanation is that cargo ships leaving the UK and crossing the Indian Ocean would wait to set sail until after the end of the monsoon in October during the calmer, drier period - described as an Indian Summer.

Another theory is that the expression comes from North America in the 18th Century where the Native Indians would take advantage of warm weather in October to harvest their crops and go hunting.

The warmer weather arriving later this week will be accompanied by a noticeable breeze which will be brisk and gusty at times, especially on exposed coasts and hills, so the leaves will be blowing around a bit.

It looks like the fine weather will continue well into next week with high pressure close by but make most of the warm weather because the long range forecast for the coming winter is cold - more on that next week.

In the meantime, if you're out with your camera please send in your sunny October pics. The sunshine will show off the Autumn colours nicely.

You never know I might be able to show your photos on my Wales Today weather slot.

Gull and I are off walking tomorrow in Gwynedd for my new series of Weatherman Walking so keep an eye out for some updates and pics on Monday.

Derek