02/03/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

. Hello there, what a week it has been so far, we've had some real

contrasting weather conditions, cold and frosty on Monday, mild and wet

on Tuesday, snow to come for Wednesday. All due to an undulating

jet stream that we've got across the country at the moment and, with that

under legislation, brings a real contrast, a flip-flop, with the feel

of the weather. So Monday we had cold air across the country. By

Tuesday, the milder air arrived but brought rain with it as well, some

of it heavy. Before Wednesday, the cold air digs deep. And this time

it's going to stay for a while. It's also responsible for a named storm

by the Irish Met Office, pushing south and west. It will bring gales

to the extreme south-west but we're more concerned about the snow

showers moving out of the north of England, across Wales, into the

Midlands. Wet snow and sleet, perhaps, as it pushes south and

east. Hind it, though, still a cluster of snow showers to come,

even at lower levels a cold feel to the day, highs of 5-9 degrees. As we

move out of Wednesday, the showers will gradually start to ease away

and Thursday looks a slightly quieter day, with lighter winds.

Hopefully we should see a dryer scenario. And it will feel just that

little bit better as well, with some sunshine coming through, showers few

and far between and temperatures up as high as 5-9 degrees. But it all

changes again as we move into Friday and there's a level of uncertainty,

as this weather front pushes in as to how much rain and potential snow

we could see across the north of England and then it will pivot its

way south and east. Now, just where that frontal system tends toe lie is

still open to question so keep watching the forecast. But there is

a risk, particularly across higher ground, of yet more snow and again

still quite a cold feel to the day as the front sinks south and east

yet again. The start of the weekend, I'm pleased to say, back to a

quieter theme. The isobars open up, still in a vertical position so

still a northerly wind direction the source. It will still feel pretty

chilly but showers mostly to the coast, still a wintry mix in there,

and hopefully a bit of sunshine building as well, highs again around

5-8 degrees. We have this undulatnion in the jet stream

allowing the area of high pressure to build in the west as we move out

of the weekend and into next week. So there is the potential, then,

into Sunday, for the high pressure to build, a weather front just

brushing into the far north and west and it may well sink south and bring

showers with it but once that is out of the way, things will still cold

but relatively quiet. For the early half of next week we have this high

down towards the south-west. Indications are that's going to

continue to drag in this colder feel for the first week or so of March.

The high drifts steadily south and potentially later on next week, lows

could develop and move in from the north-west, turning things a little

more unsettled. So, the opening half of March, pretty chilly. Yes,

widespread frost, may be even some wintry showers continuing. I know

what you are thinking, you want scenes like this really with spring

lambs and some lovely sunshine. All together now, "Ah", but the question

is, are we going to get it? And for those who have worked it out, yes,

it has been one of the wildest winters on record, but, as you can

see, January was colder than December, February colder than

January and the early half of March, so far, looks pretty chilly indeed.

That is not my problem for tomorrow.