14/04/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. On Wednesday, parts of England and Wales

again recorded the highest temperatures of the year so far.

Temperatures peaked close to 19 Celsius, in fact,

to the west of London,

but big differences once again, further north.

A good 12 degrees cooler in parts of central and southern Scotland.

There will be changes ahead, though.

We'll iron out those contrasts through the rest of this week,

and by Saturday all of us will be in the colder air,

many struggling to get out of single figures.

We'll need a bit of sunshine to boost temperatures

such as six or seven for many of you.

It's a few days away, and it's going to be a slow process change,

and the reason, we've still got the jet stream

in a sort of z-shape pattern as I mentioned yesterday.

High pressure to the north-west of the UK,

low pressure to the south-west.

Low pressure has more influence on Thursday,

meaning showers across England and Wales.

We've seen heavy, thundery ones in the past few days.

On Thursday, more widespread and heaviest through the afternoon

in Wales, the Midlands and East Anglia.

Brightening up the south coast after a wet start,

though more heavy rain in the far south-west of England

and Channel Islands, later.

In the sunshine, either side of the showers, still potentially

mid-teen temperatures.

Scotland, Northern Ireland, the far north of England, single figures.

But a brighter day compared to recent days.

Then through Thursday night into Friday,

we've one weather front pushing northwards across England and Wales,

another working its way south into Scotland.

In between, some drier weather.

A touch of frost here and there,

but colder air starting to push in from the north,

with this second weather front we can see pushing across Scotland.

Winds all the way from the Arctic,

and so a drastic drop in temperature.

And on that weather front we will see the rain turn to sleet and snow,

even at lower levels at times.

Not expecting any massive disruption at the moment,

but certainly a wintry feel.

That pushes into Northern Ireland, eventually northern England.

Rest of England and Wales, low-pressure centred here.

You'll be hard pressed to stay dry throughout,

because there will be rain just about anywhere.

Still some heavy thundery downpours especially where we see brightness,

temperatures in the mid-teens.

Only around four or five Celsius in the north-east of Scotland.

That low-pressure system is with us in England and Wales on Friday.

Starts to push eastward into Saturday.

It allows, then, that colder air that I mentioned

southwards to all parts of the UK.

Not a great start across England and Wales, outbreaks of rain which will

turn to sleet and snow over the hills, but gradually clears through.

Winds easing a little bit in the west later on,

turning a little bit brighter as well,

and as I said, you need a bit of sunshine

to see temperatures into double figures.

Some may languish around four, five Celsius through part of the day.

But it's high pressure which eventually builds in to Sunday

from the west.

We've a bit of a breeze across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This time a westerly direction.

Eastern areas will probably fare better than you've done of late,

and there is that high pressure system.

It's there across the south of the country Sunday into Monday.

We do have a low-pressure system between Iceland and Norway, which

will have certain influence across Scotland and Northern Ireland,

bringing some cloud, a few showers around, and a bit more of a breeze,

but compared to what we have at the moment, a big improvement.

In the south, after a frosty start,

temperatures lifting back into double figures widely once again.

So, we go into next week.

We've lost that s-shaped, z-shaped jet stream that I mentioned.

Instead, we've got two.

And in between, high pressure is going to sit there,

and it looks set to sit all week.

Now, yesterday I said there was a chance further east for warm air.

Looking a little less likely now.

It's going to be mainly to the west of us, bringing cooler

Atlantic air around the top, but do not write the week off because

don't forget, the April sunshine is getting that bit stronger.

More of you will be drier for longer.

Just one or two showers around. When the sunshine is out,

it will feel pleasantly warm, but still, the night...

And this will be a important one for the gardeners.

..the chill will be there, with a bit of frost always possible. Bye.