Gin-clear Autumnal skies...

Wow, what amazing visibility greeted us this morning! Not a cloud in the sky here above Bristol, as high pressure now becomes dominant for quite a number of days ahead.

After finishing our local radio & TV forecasting this morning, I stepped-out into glorious autumn sunshine streaming across the courtyard here at the BBC in Clifton. Far above, three airliners were completing their transatlantic journeys, presumably heading across to continental destinations. I was struck by how none of them left any contrails - the ribbon of cirrus cloud that you often see streaming out behind the exhausts of high-altitude jets.

These contrails can be a useful visual clue to our broader weather conditions, because they give an indication of the amount of moisture and instability existing high in the atmosphere.

If they are seen to persist for a long time, or get wider and more conspicuous, it suggests unstable atmopsheric conditions prevail high aloft - and typically, it's a precursor to the weather deteriorating.

Conversely - much like today - if the contrails are entirely absent or seen to quickly fade, it's a reasonable bet that fair weather is on the cards - at least for a while.

And indeed high pressure will dominate our weather now for a number of days ahead, albeit I'm expecting rather cloudier conditions across the West Country by midweek onwards.

But for now, if my view of these airliners is so crystal-clear from down here, imagine what a spectacular vista they must be seeing today from up there at 35,000 ft. Quite probably a view across all of southern England, pretty much coast to coast, I'd imagine!