18/01/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

In the last 24 hours or so we've seen quite a bit of snow.

In fact, that snow has covered many parts of the UK

all the way from parts of Scotland down into southern England.

A bit more wintry weather overnight.

Northern England into Scotland, some sleet and snow showers,

maybe some more persistent snow in Scotland

and a risk of ice to take us on into the morning.

Into the afternoon we've still got that band of rain, sleet and snow

across central parts of Scotland but the far

north of Scotland should avoid it and see some winter sunshine.

But a pretty grey look to things further south

and there is that snow to contend with as well.

Northern England is largely dry but cold and grey

and after a grey start for East Anglia

and the south-east we should see some sunshine coming through.

But it won't do much for those temperatures -

it's still cold into the afternoon at three or four degrees.

Further west, a bit more cloud, outbreaks of rain.

A bit of a breeze as well.

Might see temperatures up to about six or seven degrees,

so I suppose it's relatively mild.

Five degrees in Cardiff with some outbreaks of rain.

On the cold side here,

maybe even a little bit of snow over higher ground.

In Northern Ireland, though, we're at six or seven degrees

and a lot of cloud into the afternoon.

A little bit of rain but that tends to fade away.

Meanwhile in Scotland,

through the evening we've still got that area of rain, sleet and snow.

Little bit of rain towards the south and west of the UK.

Elsewhere, though, it's a clear night, particularly for central

and eastern areas, and it will be a cold one as well -

a widespread frost, -2, -3 in Norwich and in London.

So, a cold start to the day on Tuesday

and two main features to watch out for.

This one in the south-west will bring some outbreaks of rain with it

and this feature to the north-east is likely to bring

a mixture of rain, sleet and some snow.

That will be drifting south through Scotland into the far

north-east of England.

Elsewhere, after a cold start, should be a good deal of sunshine,

crisp, winter sunshine. Still maybe a bit more cloud

and a bit of rain towards the far south and west.

Six or seven again in Plymouth and in Belfast

but most places another cold day -

three or four degrees by the middle of the afternoon.

And then, by the middle of the week, it looks like we're going

to see this area of high pressure drifting down from the north.

That is not without its problems

because with light winds across some central and eastern areas,

we are likely to see some fog patches forming and that may well be

freezing fog and that may well linger into the afternoon.

The further west you are a bit more of a breeze, so less of a risk

of the fog and a better chance of seeing at least some sunshine.

Another cold day for most places, though - three,

four degrees fairly typical.

We start to see a bit of a change, though, by Thursday.

Weather fronts trying to push in against that area of high

pressure and I think the breeze will be picking up as well,

so a windier day and a wetter day out towards the western side of the UK.

Might see some wintry weather on the leading edge of this weather

system and temperatures about four, five degrees, so still cold for many.

But signs of things turning a little bit milder in the western side

of the UK and it looks like that mild air will be following behind

this wind and rain, which will be affecting all parts of the UK

through Thursday night and on into Friday.

That rain could be heavy at times but it'll clear away,

it'll brighten up, sunshine

and showers through Friday afternoon and temperatures into double

figures for Cardiff, London, Belfast and Glasgow.

So, on into next weekend and beyond. A much more unsettled look to things.

There'll be some rain at times,

the breeze will be quite strong for some and notably those

temperatures rising back to something much nearer the norm.

So, why the change?

Well, the main reason is this area of high pressure that's drifting

back into the near continent

and that's allowing areas of low pressure to come our way.

And with that comes a south-westerly breeze.

That'll be dragging in a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain,

hence the more unsettled look to things,

but it's also going to be a south-westerly breeze

and that's going to bring that milder air with it.