27/01/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. Before I look ahead, it's worth remembering that a week

or so back we had some really cold,

wintry weather with hard frosts and some snow around.

Seems a distant memory now, doesn't it?

And the prospects through the rest of this week are for further

quite wet and windy weather at times.

I'll show you a satellite sequence for the entirety of the last week,

and it just goes to reinforce the fact that it's been

so disturbed, with bands of wet and windy weather

charging in off the Atlantic on a very strong jet stream.

And with plenty more of this stuff to come through the rest of this

week, concerns about flooding will be high,

and we'll keep a very close eye on things through the rest

of this week in conjunction, of course, with the Environment Agency.

Certainly a pretty wet scene across southern areas

on Wednesday, some bouts of quite heavy rain, some strong winds, too,

which could cause some problems.

Further north, in contrast, it'll tend to dry out,

lighter winds, so there will be wintry showers

feeding into the Highlands of Scotland.

Quite a contrast in temperatures,

11 to 13 degrees across the south despite the wind and the rain.

Despite the sunshine further north, it'll be a lot colder,

five or six degrees typical through the afternoon

for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

As we head into the evening and night, so these fronts clear away.

They take the rain with them.

Behind that, a ridge of high pressure, clear skies for many.

In fact, by Thursday morning this could be the scene quite

widely up and down the UK, a frosty start to a bright

and crisp morning, actually, for many of us, probably one of the best

days of the week, in fact, certainly for England and Wales.

Lighter winds, plenty of sunshine.

Already, though, signs of change to the north-west,

with the next weather system powering in, bringing wind

and rain again to Northern Ireland and Scotland. A chilly-feeling day.

We might just scrape ten degrees in London,

but more typically around about six to eight degrees.

So, looking further ahead, then,

Thursday night into Friday, it's business as usual,

with further active frontal systems coming off the Atlantic,

strong winds and some pretty heavy rain,

and for the likes of Snowdonia, the Cumbrian fells,

the Southern Uplands quite a lot of rain expected.

There are already warnings in force from the Met Office,

with the risk of flooding for sure.

Eventually drying up to the north-west,

and the rain taking all day to reach the more southern areas.

But as we look from Friday into Saturday, the rain will arrive here.

Behind that, though, it turns clearer

and colder again on Saturday, quite a chilly wind

developing across Scotland and Northern Ireland in particular.

That wind will give some wintry showers.

Quite a lot of snow over the Highlands of Scotland.

Those weather fronts perhaps lingering

across the far south-east well into the day.

But it will be chillier-feeling for most places,

particularly in the north.

Into Sunday, perhaps a frosty start, and then guess what?

The next set of fronts comes in from the west,

providing a pretty wet and windy end to the weekend across western

areas, that rain eventually spreading its way further eastwards

but introducing higher temperatures.

And the temperatures flip-flopping all the way through the week

and, indeed, beyond.

We get bouts of warmer air followed by bouts of chillier air,

and then the next system comes in and it's warm and cold again.

But with westerly winds, that cold air is never particularly cold.

As I mentioned yesterday,

it's modified by the relatively warm Atlantic.

And with a very strong jet stream driving those weather systems,

expect more of the same for the next week and, indeed, perhaps beyond.

So, looking into February, plenty more wind and rain, for sure,

with those westerly winds dominant.

It could well be, as we head towards the middle of the month,

that changes around the globe, including, would you believe,

changes in the stratosphere, may change

the behaviour of the jet stream, and it might start to turn colder.

Louise Lear will update you again tomorrow.