21/12/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

We've been forecasting some rough weather

and it's already arrived.

Not too stormy just yet - we've got rain and wind -

but come Friday, that's when the weather

could turn very nasty, particularly across

northern parts of the British Isles,

and there could be some disruption.

Really worth paying attention to the weather forecast

over the next 48 hours, because it may affect

your travel plans around Christmas.

This is what the satellite picture looks like -

those clouds are racing across the Atlantic.

They're being pushed by a powerful jet stream.

Here's the leading edge of that bad weather.

It's been moving across

north-western parts of the British Isles

during the course of Tuesday.

Shocking day in Northern Ireland,

heavy rain, feeling cold.

Then, through early Wednesday,

some of that rain,

the leftover of this weather front,

moving a little bit further south.

Now, behind this line of rain,

we've got colder air

coming in off the Atlantic

and that means that any showers

pushed in by that strong wind,

when they come through, some of these showers could be wintry,

particularly across the hills.

We could have some hail and thunder crossing

parts of northern England into Wales,

but notice also,

across the south and the south-east,

it turns cloudier and wetter.

As the day goes on, we'll get a couple

of double-figure temperatures

for a time in the south,

but in the north, a lot colder -

we can see 5 degrees there in Glasgow -

and that wind will just

keep on building and building

as we go over the next few days.

So, Wednesday night, a blustery day

with showers across the north,

clearer in the south.

Actually, Thursday starts off on a sunny note

for many of us,

at least across much of England.

Wales will get a few showers, but here,

I think the best day of the week,

southern England south-eastern England,

East Anglia, some of these Eastern counties.

Scotland and Northern Ireland get the showers

and it will remain very windy

and very chilly in that wind as well.

And then Friday -

that's when it really starts to kick in.

This big area of low pressure comes in.

This has been named Storm Barbara

by the Met Office, and we have an amber warning

issued by the Met Office

for north-western parts of Scotland,

and other warnings are issued further south too.

Now, the top gusts -

Friday could approach 90mph

in north-western Scotland,

70mph through Northern Ireland,

southern Scotland and northern England.

Not so bad in the south,

but there could be another storm on the way.

Whether this one will be named or not,

too early to say - we have to determine

just how powerful or how many impacts

it may potentially bring.

But Christmas Eve, again,

very blustery, then Christmas Day...

So, this isn't Barbara,

this is the next one, the second storm -

I mean, look at all these arrows.

Really strong winds blowing through,

gales in the north,

very blustery in the south as well,

And once the second storm moves through,

Christmas Day, later on Christmas Day,

we could see colder air coming in temporarily.

There could be some wintry weather

across northern hills,

and then, after all of that,

it calms down.

High pressure builds across

many parts of southern Britain,

maybe as far north

as northern parts of Britain,

but there is just a small print

to the weather forecast,

because there will be some nasty lows,

lurking and developing out in the Atlantic,

and they may affect

north-western parts of the UK.

But say high pressure does build -

and we're fairly confident of that -

that will probably push

some milder air in our direction,

but cold air will never be too far away.

That's a long way off, a long way off.

We have a rough ride before that happens.