07/12/2015 Weather for the Week Ahead

Storm Desmond, the fourth named storm here in the UK and Ireland,

unleashed severe weather through the first part of the weekend

with damaging winds and exceptionally heavy rainfall.

Sunday was a bit of a quieter day.

But Storm Desmond left scenes a bit like this one

taken by one of our weather watchers in Whitesands in Dumfries.

You can see the extent of the flooding there.

Severe flooding is still a problem

across many parts of northern England.

Flood warnings also issued across southern Scotland.

0345 988 1188 is the Floodline number

if you're concerned about your region.

During the course of Monday, it is a bit of a quieter day.

Some more rain on the cards.

We've got a warm front bringing some spells of rain

across some northern areas during the early part of the morning.

Fairly light and patchy.

Much of the UK having a drier interlude with some sunny spells,

and still very mild, with temperatures 13 or 14 Celsius,

even a bit higher than that in one or two spots.

But during Monday afternoon, we've got more rain to come.

The severe flooding problems aren't going to abate in a hurry.

We could well see severe disruption to transport and travel for Monday

across parts of northern England and southern Scotland.

And later in the day, our attention turns to the west once again.

This reasonably active front moving its way west to east,

delivering 20mm to 40mm of rain across the flood-affected regions.

Not a huge amount, but it's falling on very saturated ground,

high river levels and very sensitive catchments.

This rain, during the course of Tuesday,

will start to ease away towards the east.

Still some fairly tight isobars around,

so we're left with another blustery sort of day.

Some slightly colder air following on behind that main band of rain.

Through the day on Tuesday,

some wet weather clearing away towards the east,

and then a return to fresher, brighter conditions.

Still some scattered showers, as you can see, blown in from the west.

Some of those showers will be a little bit wintry

on top of the hills of Scotland.

Still fairly mild in general, 10 to 14 Celsius,

but there will be a dip in the temperatures later on in the day

following on from the north-west.

Then as we look towards the middle part of the week,

high pressure not far away,

particularly from southern parts of the country.

But much of the country dominated by tight isobars,

further areas of low pressure,

and during Wednesday, we could see some further heavy rainfall

across parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland

and the north-west of England.

Further south and east, a much drier story.

But it's, again, falling on areas that have seen heavy rain

and the flooding through the course of the weekend.

As that front makes it way southwards during the course of Thursday,

we could have seen another 60mm to 80mm of rain

falling across parts of northern England and southern Scotland.

This front, as it slips further south,

will start to fizzle out somewhat

and it marks the boundary between mild air in the south -

11 or 12 degrees - with slightly colder and fresher conditions

piling in from the north-west,

again, with some wintry showers on the hills of Scotland.

Then as we look towards the end of the week, on into Friday,

a ridge of higher pressure here for a time.

So, some slightly quieter weather conditions,

but low pressure lurking out in the Atlantic once again.

Temperatures by Friday a little bit cooler than they have been,

really, for much of the week.

Further rain heading into the north-west later on in the day.

Things become a little bit more uncertain

as we head towards next weekend and beyond.

But it looks at the moment like we're likely to start off the weekend

between areas of low pressure.

So, a fairly quiet start to the weekend, all in all.

But with low pressure likely to head towards the north-west of the UK,

we could see a return to something more unsettled.

So, looking toward the six- to ten-day period,

there will start to be some drier interludes.

Also, we'll return to near-normal temperatures.

But we're likely to see further rain arriving by the end of the period.

After 17 years with the Royal Ballet,

Carlos Acosta is coming home.