22/12/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. The weather in the run-up to Christmas and after Christmas

is going to be like Jekyll and Hyde.

For the next few days, some really bad weather across northern parts

of the UK, in particular.

We'll see spells of rain interspersed with showers,

they could be wintry over the hills, but it will be very windy.

Why so windy?

We look to the other side of the Atlantic

and the temperature contrast here

has strengthened the jet

and that really fast-moving strong jet

moves across the Atlantic

and picks up areas of low pressure, deepens them

and steers them to the northwest of the UK,

where the jet stream is stronger.

We've got strong winds at the moment,

gales and frequent wintry showers,

some pretty nasty weather.

Showers coming into Northern Ireland,

rain clears from the southeast,

then we get patchy fog,

and it will turn quite chilly.

There could be some icy conditions,

especially high-level routes,

in Scotland. There'll be more wintry showers

here on Thursday. Quite a few showers

coming into other western areas

for a while, but for many eastern parts

it'll be dry and sunny,

once we clear that fog and mist.

More atrocious weather for the Scottish mountains.

It's easy to forget this,

given that we're all in for windy weather.

A lot of snow to come over the Scottish mountains.

Could get snow over the hills in Northern Ireland.

There'll be some showers

in northwest England, Wales and the southwest.

For much of the day,

the Midlands and eastern England

will be dry and sunny but feel a bit chillier.

Then the winds really start to pick up,

our second named storm of the season,

Barbara, taking a tract to the northwest of Scotland.

These fronts will bring a spell of rain,

but it's the strength of the wind

that's the major concern.

We still have this amber wind warning from the Met Office,

the winds picking up throughout Friday

and into Friday night.

The strongest winds across the northwest of Scotland,

gusts of 80, 90mph. Elsewhere in Scotland,

Northern Ireland, northern England,

perhaps North Wales, gusts of 60 or 70,

and the strongest of the winds later in the day,

probably into the evening period,

as Barbara, that deep area of low pressure,

then tends to pull away.

Things calm down slowly

as we head into Christmas Eve morning.

It won't be as windy,

there'll still be blustery showers,

maybe a bit of snow over the hills.

Further south, not as windy.

Drier, brighter,

increasing amounts of cloud, mind you,

and that sets us up for Christmas Day.

It's going to be very mild.

If we get temperatures of 15, 16,

it could be a

record-breaking mild Christmas Day.

It's not going to come without some rain,

this front taking rain down from the northwest,

and add to that, the winds are mild

but they're also going to be very strong and gusty,

especially close to that area of low pressure,

this one not as intense as Barbara, perhaps.

After Christmas, all change.

High pressure starts to build up

from the southwest on Boxing Day

and the days after that,

some stronger winds in the northwest

for a while, but things really

settling down. It could be cold,

it could be clear, frosty

and then probably cloud amounts

increasing within that area

of high pressure.

Uncertainty about the cloud amounts

but we will see a significant change

in the weather pattern. Goodbye.