Laminar natural convection at unity Schmidt number over a horizontal surface with a weak normal velocity at the wall is studied using an integral analysis. To characterise the strength of the blowing, we define a non-dimensional parameter called the blowing parameter. After benchmarking with the no blowing case, the effect of the blowing parameter on boundary layer thickness, velocity and concentration profiles is obtained. Weak blowing is seen to increase the wall shear stress. For blowing parameters greater than unity, the diffusional flux at the wall becomes negligible and the flux is almost entirely due to the blowing. © 2004 Elsevier Science Ltd.