02/02/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. It seemed we barely had time to catch our breath

after Storm Gertrude left the UK before hot on its

heels was Storm Henry, our eighth named storm of the winter season.

It made for some dramatic Weather Watchers' pictures,

but it also brought some damaging gusts of wind.

And in fact, we will continue to see those damaging

gusts of wind for the first half of Tuesday.

Severe gales, perhaps storm force, into the far north, slowly

easing down through the afternoon but still a windy day for all of us.

On top of that, there will be some relentless rain and some

snow to the tops of mountains, blizzard-like conditions here.

A scattering of showers along west-facing coasts,

but some brightness elsewhere,

but a windy afternoon and temperatures struggling,

perhaps, to get into double figures, six to ten degrees at the very best.

Now, as we move out of Tuesday into Wednesday, we will continue to see

the remnants of Henry with this dying weather front as it

continues to push its way steadily south.

For a time, winds will strengthen through the Irish Sea,

affecting north-west England, and on the leading edge we could see

some snow across the Pennines and perhaps higher ground of Wales.

More importantly, behind it a colder night to come with

a widespread frost and maybe some ice on untreated surfaces.

So, we start off on Wednesday with the remnants of that dying

weather front, but it is a dying one

and just really a band of cloud by the middle of the day

on Wednesday, with the odd spot or two of showery rain.

After that chilly start,

there'll be some sunshine into the far north as the winds swing

round to a north-westerly direction, so a cooler feel here,

four or five degrees.

To the south of that band of cloud

we should see temperatures sitting at around eight or nine.

As we move into Thursday, still a quieter story.

There is the potential for persistent rain in the north-west.

We'll need to keep an eye on that. It may lead to localised flooding.

And again, the winds swing back to a south-westerly,

driving in milder air. Temperatures return back to double figures.

Another weather front waiting in the wings for Friday.

And there is a level of uncertainty as to the timings of this weather

front and how quickly it's going to sink its way south and east.

More importantly, it's dragging in milder southerly air for a time,

and there will be heavy rain, as well, we'll need to keep an eye on.

But as that weather front sinks south and east -

and, as I say, timing's a little uncertain at the moment -

I need to draw your attention to this area of low pressure

developing into the south-west.

That could cause some issues as we move into the weekend.

If you've got weekend plans,

you'll need to keep abreast of the weather forecast.

One thing is for certain -

as that front does continue to clear its way south and east,

yet again it will allow colder air to flood back in across the country.

The jet stream is going to be sitting to the southern

flank of the UK,

allowing that colder air from Iceland to filter further south.

But we talk about the jet stream as this ribbon of fast-moving

air driving areas of low pressure towards the UK,

so there's the potential of that low that we were

talking about down into the south-west to

move across the southern portion of the UK into the weekend.

If that happens, we could see some windy weather,

and for a time, as it bumps into the cold air,

we might on the leading edge see a little bit of snow, as well.

That's why I say keep watching the forecast.

However, we are expecting the jet stream to then drift further

north and sit across the UK, and then it's all change yet again.

So, into the first half of next week, it looks as though

it'll be windy, showery with milder temperatures starting to develop.

Anywhere to the north of that jet stream will stay cold, to the

south a little bit warmer. That's it. Take care.