23/01/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. The weather here in the UK is feeling a lot less wintry

than it did earlier on in the week.

The same can't be said for the other side of the Atlantic.

Across eastern parts of the US,

we've got a major winter storm,

which is pushing its way northwards and eastwards,

bringing exceptionally heavy snowfall

combined with freezing rain,

very strong gusty winds too

so blizzard conditions developing

over the next 24 hours or so.

We could see up to around 45-60cm of snow,

more than 2ft of snow in some areas,

including Washington DC and for New York, too,

some outbreaks of heavy snow on the cards.

Severe travel disruption quite likely

over the next 24-36 hours or so.

If we move across the Atlantic,

you can see that cold plunge of air

that's across the north-east states,

but, across the UK, warm air piling in from the south

so a mild weekend ahead, particularly during

the second half of the weekend.

Saturday dawns on a dry note for most of us.

Some mist, fog and low cloud developing

across some southern areas for a time

and, later in the day,

we'll see rain pushing in across parts

of Northern Ireland, Wales and the south-west.

Ahead of that, temperatures typically

around about nine or ten degrees

so it should feel pleasant enough

with light winds some sunny spells.

Later on Saturday

and overnight into Sunday,

we're going to see an area of rain

making its way west to east

across the country, not particularly heavy,

but it will be a murky start to Sunday -

a lot of cloud around and some outbreaks of rain

and things will be turning exceptionally mild through

the course of Sunday, the air drawn in

from the south and the south-west.

So it will be a grey start to the day,

a cloudy day compared to Saturday for most,

some hill fog and outbreaks

of light rain and drizzle,

particularly around coasts and hills

in the north and the west.

Eastern areas, that's where we're likely to see

the best in the breaks in that cloud

and where we see sunshine

pushing through the clouds,

we could see temperatures of 13-15 degrees,

well above average for the time of year.

On into Monday,

some uncertainty about this system,

but it does look like we'll see

an area of low pressure

bringing heavy rain to western areas,

particularly on the hills

and strong gusty winds for a time too.

So, a wet and windy day on Monday.

Tuesday starts off drier,

but this low pressure system,

this is the remnants of the storm in the US

that brought all that heavy snowfall

and blizzard conditions.

It will move across the Atlantic

so it won't be falling as snow by the time

it gets to our shores on Tuesday,

it'll be falling as rain,

but we've still got some strong gusty winds

associated with this storm system

and it could bring some localised flooding

in areas where we've already got saturated ground

towards the north and the west.

Through the middle part of the week for Wednesday,

we've got another low pressure system

heading in from the Atlantic.

So, a breezy day across England and Wales,

perhaps parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland

could also see some brisk winds

and some outbreaks of rain too.

Still pretty mild at around 13 degrees,

but, throughout the course of the week,

we'll see fluctuating temperatures.

This is a simplified representation of what the jet stream's doing

in the upper atmosphere through the middle to the end of next week.

You can see sometimes we're to the north of the jet stream,

bringing cooler conditions.

At other times, the UK lies to the south of the jet stream,

bringing a milder spell of weather

and that jet stream will deliver outbreaks of rain

and wind with low pressure systems

moving their way across the country at times as well,

interspersed with fresher, cooler and quieter spells of weather.

So, as we look ahead

through the course of next week,

things are looking changeable,

fairly unsettled.

At times, there'll be spells

of wind and rain,

interspersed with drier, clearer conditions

with a chance of frost and ice overnight

and there could be a return

to some hill snow in the north and the west.

We'll keep you up to date right here. Bye-bye.