03/01/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello, and happy new year.

2016 ended on a relatively mild and cloudy note.

2017 has kicked off with a different feel -

it's been clearer and colder.

We've had views such as this one

taken by one of our Weather Watchers

in Derbyshire on bank holiday Monday.

Now, as we head through the next couple of days, then,

things are staying largely settled.

There'll be some frost around overnight,

but also a bit of wintry sunshine coming through by day, too.

So, here's the pressure set-up.

We've got high pressure sitting out towards the west -

still quite windy towards the north-east.

We've got a lot of isobars on the map here,

and a frontal system trying to push in.

So, through the course of Tuesday, it starts off cold and frosty,

and there'll be some wintry sunshine

across many southern parts of the country,

but at the north, a little bit more in the way of cloud,

bringing slightly milder conditions.

Eight or nine degrees here.

There'll be some rain across the north-west of Scotland,

where it will be quite windy, too,

whereas further south lighter winds

and more in the way of brightness, too.

Then, as we move through the course of Tuesday night

and on into Wednesday,

once again we'll see another plunge of colder air

coming in from the Arctic,

particularly affecting these exposed North Sea coasts,

so, for eastern Scotland and eastern England

there'll be some sunshine, but it will feel quite chilly,

and there could be one or two showers coming in.

Dry elsewhere, a little bit cloudier towards the south-west,

eight or nine degrees,

further east, temperatures typically four or five.

So, looking through the middle part of the week, then -

high pressure is dominating the weather,

but we've also got this frontal system

which is just decaying towards the south-west,

so Wednesday night it's going to be a cold night

right down the spine of the country.

You can see those temperatures even in the towns and cities

down below freezing.

In the countryside,

a very cold and a frosty start to Thursday morning.

High pressure still with us on Thursday,

but we'll start to see these frontal systems

in the Atlantic, pivoting round,

trying to move back in from the north-west as we end the week.

So, Thursday itself relatively dry and quiet once again.

A good deal of sunshine and quite a cold feel to the weather.

Some places not getting above around two or three degrees,

but we will see increasing cloud and breeze moving in

from the north-west.

That's down to this frontal system here.

As we move through the day on Friday,

it looks like that front will start to push its way across the UK.

It's tending to weaken as it does so,

but there will be a spell of wetter and windier weather moving

gradually south-eastwards across the course of Friday,

bringing a milder theme,

but also a lot of cloud and some outbreaks of rain.

That front may linger for a time on Saturday,

but it should ease away towards the south,

allowing high pressure once again.

Drier and slightly cooler conditions to return

as we move through the course of Saturday -

then on into the second half of the weekend,

for Sunday and beyond we should see more of a northerly influence,

once again, to our weather.

So, a colder spell of weather

as we start next week.

It does look once again like high pressure

will be the dominant factor,

in fact, in the weather

as we head through the course of next week,

but some uncertainty about the exact position of this high pressure.

The most likely scenario is the high will be towards the south-west,

drawing in an Atlantic influence to our weather,

so, relatively mild. There could be some cloud towards the north-west,

but sunny and potentially frosty towards the south-east.

A less likely scenario

is that high could be orientated more out towards the north-east,

and that will draw in this flow of air

from the likes of Scandinavia and northern parts of Europe,

bringing colder, clearer conditions with more sunshine by day,

and frost overnight, but either way,

it does look like with that high pressure around,

things are set to stay mostly dry through next week.

Not quite as chilly as it has been this week,

with a return to frost and fog at times. That's it, bye for now.

# Remember when we were young

# Breakin' every rule they made

# I'll never change what we've done

# It made us who we are today... #

Something's coming.

Whatever's coming,

I'll know when it begins.