30/01/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. Storm Gertrude may become yesterday's fish and chip paper,

but I'm sure residents of Shetland won't forget her in a hurry

because we had the strongest gusts of wind for 16 years,

in excess of 100 miles an hour.

We also had severe gales generally across central-southern Scotland,

Northern Ireland and northern England.

And there's more wet and windy weather to come.

On Sunday, we could see more wet weather

bumping into cold air into the north

and bringing snow,

before another significant area

of low pressure develops on Monday.

This one may become another named storm.

If that happens, it'll be Henry.

That's a long way off.

For Saturday, it looks like

we'll see most sunshine

in central and southern England,

with wintry showers

continuing across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow.

There'll certainly be lying snow

as temperatures struggle.

Milder in the sunshine to the south,

but even so, colder than of late,

with 6 or 8 degrees,

the real cold air sitting to the north

with 3 or 4 as a maximum.

They'll still be further snow showers for a time

as we move out of Saturday.

Ice could be a hazard as well on the roads

before we start to see more cloud and rain

gathering into the South and West.

This will continue to push north and east.

On the leading edge, for a time

across northern England and into Scotland,

there'll be snow before it turns back to rain.

As the rain clears,

a legacy of cloud, drab afternoon.

But a milder afternoon,

with 11-13 degrees the high.

Still pretty cold

in the far north-east of Scotland,

3 or 4 degrees.

Out of Sunday,

that frontal system drifts away.

But then that significant area

of low pressure moves in.

And just like Gertrude,

the strongest winds will be centred

to the southern flank of that low.

Centred across the northern half of the country.

There'll also be significant rain,

which may lead to localised flooding.

Certainly one to keep an eye on.

Another mild but windy day further south,

with temperatures again into the mid teens.

As we move out of Monday into Tuesday,

things get quieter, a bit colder as well,

with a few wintry showers returning

into the far North and West.

But at least there should be

dry, sunny weather around.

Just a slight question mark

as to where this rain is sitting

through the Channel coast

and whether it will lap on

to the sudden portion of the UK.

Let's look further afield.

We've got that significant area of low pressure on Monday

which we need to clear out of the way.

Once it does, it allows cold air

to become more dominant,

so through the middle of next week

we could see a more prolonged, lengthier cold snap.

The question is just when the milder air

will start to push back in.

The reason we'll see this lengthier cold snap is

the jet stream will be sitting south of the UK

and that would allow cold air to dig that little bit further south.

But by the middle to the end of next week,

the jet stream looks likely to push further north again,

allowing a more mobile flow

and allowing milder, south-westerly air to come in.

A lot of uncertainty as to the timings of

when this is likely to happen.

So, through the middle of the week,

we may see some frost through the night,

but hopefully some lovely spells of sunshine as well.

By day, it looks quite promising.

A lovely first week of February.

However, by the end of the week, things will start to change,

and once the jet stream moves further north,

we'll see certainly more in the way cloud

and the potential for more wet weather to come.

Ugh! Never mind, whatever you're doing, enjoy your weekend.

Is there any chance at all

that you might be pregnant?

You should be ashamed of yourself, you little madam.

We want to minimise the chance of contamination

but we should be ready.

I appear to have won a meal in the West End.