09/04/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Good evening. It's time to look further ahead with the forecast,

to look at the trends for the next 6 to 10 days.

is the weekend forecast.

Behind it, the low pressure that brings the rain

with hill snow clearing away.

Wintry showers follow.

So ice will be a concern on Saturday morning,

particularly in Northern Ireland,

coming as hail, sleet and snow over the hills,

and it drags its heels

for East Anglia and the south-east.

Further west, even the moors of the West Country

could see a smattering of snow on them,

as could parts of the mountains of Wales.

So it's a wintry mix. It will feel chilly,

particularly in the showers

but outside, the April sun is now getting quite strong.

the showers tend to fade away a little.

The rain still lingers in the north

that wind picking up in the south-west.

Unusually windy with gale-force winds to come here

holding the temperature up.

Elsewhere, it will be a cold night,

even some ice.

So, Sunday is a tale

of three thirds, if you like.

Rain in the north and east,

rain and very windy weather in the south and west

and then in between,

despite the breeze picking up,

a lot of dry and fine weather.

And temperatures lift a little

because we're starting to see the effect

of that April sunshine.

is not going anywhere,

it'll be with us for much of

this extended period forecast.

giving us outbreaks of rain or showers.

more prevalent even further north,

Well, that low pressure hasn't moved.

So it's got to be down to the wind direction.

We'll continue with that trend

throughout the rest of the period.

But let's take a look at what's happening.

We have the cold air across us

as we've had for most of the week.

But at the moment, the land is warming up nicely,

so in southern parts of the UK,

where we're pulling in a south-easterly wind,

we will see things gradually warming up by day

because the land mass really is reacting

to that stronger April sunshine.

Whilst the wind coming in across the North Sea

is still chilly. This time of year, notoriously,

is when we see the coldest weather

out around the coast

because the sea is at its lowest temperature.

This is an infrared satellite picture.

It tells us about the cloud as well as the warmth.

The whiter the picture, the colder it is.

At this time of year,

there's very little difference

between the land and the sea.

But if we go through spring towards summer,

you see the darker colours

where the land responds to that stronger sunshine

much more quickly than the cooler sea,

so as we get those easterly winds this week,

coming over the really quite chilly North Sea,

most of the seas around our shores are chilly,

but it will be notable because it's coming in off the east

that we won't get much warming.

So chilly nights continue to be in the forecast, as do showers,

but it will get a little warmer in the south.