16/03/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. High pressure in control and, for most of us, this dry

spell of weather will last well into next week, but we will eventually

start to see some changes, some subtle changes in the big picture.

Right now, though, it's all about the small changes

in where we see the cloud, because

it does make such a difference, the sunshine at this time of year.

We are close, of course, to the equinox.

Beautiful day in Western Scotland. In the sunshine, 16 degrees.

In Eastern England, in the gloom and the mist,

it was just 5-6 Celsius.

Now, we'll keep big contrasts with the weather over the next few days

but the areas that we see the cloud and the sun, they will be varying.

Take Wednesday for example.

A brighter feel eventually across the Midlands, Wales.

Southern England brightening up, too.

Further North, there will be more cloud but I still fancy, with

a bit of sunshine, parts of the Highlands could reach 16 Celsius.

Elsewhere, again, the East coast generally chilly,

just 5-6 and quite gloomy.

A bit of sunshine and other areas could reach 10-11 Celsius.

There's the area of high pressure dominating things across the UK.

Only slowly starting to move.

Across the South, there will still be a brisk breeze on Thursday.

If anything, here there should be a bit more sunshine.

Further North, it will be quite a cloudy day and, again,

look at the temperatures. Responding to the sunshine, 10, 11, 12 Celsius.

Where it's gloomy, we're just at 6-7 degrees.

Now, the high-pressure still keeping the weather fronts at bay

through Thursday and Friday

but it is just very slowly wobbling its way into the Western Atlantic.

A subtle shift bringing subtle changes in the wind direction,

which has a big impact on where we see the cloud.

Brightest weather on Friday

likely to be South Wales, South-west England.

Quite a lot of clouds and a brisk breeze on the East coast.

Again, where it's gloomy, we're only looking at 6-7 Celsius.

Now, the high continues to shift down towards

Ireland during Saturday,

which means the wind's coming around the top of that high,

from a cool direction, from the North,

and also bringing more moisture with them.

So, again, a lot of cloud on Saturday.

Not much brightness and, as a result,

temperatures just 6-7 Celsius.

If we see some sunshine, we could get into double figures.

The high is still with us on Sunday so, again, it is a largely dry theme

but again, just subtly shifting a little further South,

with a breeze coming round the top of that high bringing moisture

from the Atlantic, it is going to be predominantly cloudy

through this weekend.

There will be some holes here and there and, with a bit of sun,

we'll see temperatures jumping

but, for most, it's grey and chilly at just 6-7 Celsius.

But, for most, the winds will be light.

So gradual changes between this week and next.

At the moment we've got this blocking pattern.

This is the jet stream, that fast-moving ribbon high up,

driving to the North of the UK and meaning the low-pressure systems

are largely in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic, and allowing this

big area of high pressure just to sit across us, keeping things dry.

Fast forward to next week, it's the same pattern.

We've got that big loop in the jet stream,

but it's all shifted a little bit further West.

We call this retrogression.

Now, one of the reasons for this

is what's going on in the United States.

We'll have more on that this time tomorrow.

But, for the moment, we need to focus on the high pressure just

shifting a little bit further, which will introduce more of a breeze,

more isobars on the charts as we go into next week, and a continuation

introducing more moisture, so the potential for a little bit of rain,

particularly away from the high across the Northern parts of the UK.

With the winds coming from the North-west, it'll stay chilly.

There will be some showers, with the driest of the weather

hanging on across the South and South-west. Goodbye.