15/12/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

This extended forecast will take a look at the possibilities in

the run-up to Christmas but doesn't quite include the Christmas

weekend itself.

Back to the middle of the week and it was a day of contrasts across the

UK with cloud and rain across much

of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Whereas across England

and Wales it was a completely

different story.

There was plenty of

sunshine and it was very mind indeed.

We got to 13-14 degrees quite widely.

Thanks to our Weather Watchers for sending in those pictures.

For the rest of this week it does stay essentially mild but the

temperature will be dropping back down

a little bit as we head on into the weekend.

A fair bit of cloud around in the next few days.

Not much rain on the eastern side of the UK.

Most of the rain will be out west.

We've got a weather

front coming in to the west during the day on Thursday

with a bit of a breeze, fair number of isobars.

It's going to get stuck in the north-west mainly because it's

bumping into this area of high pressure across the near continent.

We do start the day quite grey,

eastern Scotland and England

there will be some fog particularly towards the north-east.

Bit of patchy rain

drifts up into the Midlands and northern

England for the afternoon.

Something brighter follows but then the weather

front starts to creep its way into

Northern Ireland through the afternoon.

A bit of a breeze picking up here, thickening cloud and some rain.

But still got a southerly breeze so for most of us mild,

double figures for many.

Then as pressure builds across our weather front it becomes a weakening

feature during the day on Friday but

it's still there in the north-west.

Some patchy rain into western Scotland,

maybe some in Northern Ireland and down though the Irish Sea.

Elsewhere a grey start but I think we'll see some breaks in that cloud.

A bit of sunshine and very little rain getting through for England and

Wales. Mild in the south and still not too bad temperature wise

further north. 9 or 10 degrees.

Into the start of the weekend

pressure builds

across all of the UK.

Light winds for the most part with very few isobars but

a bit more towards the north and the west and there will be

a bit of a breeze, outbreaks of rain

mainly towards the northern isles,

maybe some gets into the far north of Scotland.

Elsewhere it should brighten up.

We'll see some spells of sunshine.

But with those light winds, a nice afternoon

despite those temperatures dipping

back into single figures for most places.

Second part of the weekend,

still breezy in the west of Scotland

and that's where we're going

to see the focus point for

most rain during the day on Sunday.

Elsewhere a fair bit of cloud.

Not much wind across England and Wales

so a reasonable day for getting out and about.

Again those temperatures are in single figures.

Closer to where they should be for this time of the year.

Looking ahead to

the start of the new week,

high pressure is still in charge of our weather.

Pushing those weather fronts away to the north and west.

So a lot of dry weather on Monday.

Dry if rather cloudy but there might

be a few breaks here and there

and those temperatures

are in single figures, seven or eight degrees.

Early next week high pressure

is the dominant force.

That will keep it dry for the most part.

Maybe a few showers to the north and the west where there's always

going to be a bit more of a breeze.

As you look to the latter part of

the week Wednesday to Friday, most

likely is the high will drift away

to the near continent still

allowing milder air to come back in.

Bringing a few showers to the north and west of the UK.

What's less likely to happen is to

see an area of low pressure

heading to the north-west of the UK.

This could be, if it happens, quite

a vigorous area of low pressure.

Might see gales or even severe gales but it is

a fairly low probability for that to happen.

Bye for now.