03/03/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. In meteorology, we like to keep things simple,

so winter runs from 1st December to the end of February

and, that way, we can compare like with like from season to season.

What about the season just gone?

When you look at the average temperature,

it was up a little bit across the board.

When it's mild in winter, you'd expect it to be wet and windy,

but it wasn't. Here's the winter rainfall map,

and most places were a good deal drier than average,

mainly because we had high pressure blocking weather systems

from coming in from the Atlantic for much of the time.

But we are going to see a fairly strong jet stream

coming across the Atlantic Ocean.

That will be impacting on our weather,

but notice how it dives away towards the south of the UK,

and in this big trough you'd expect

a significant area of low pressure to develop,

and that's what we'll see -

very heavy snow is likely in the Alps this weekend.

We end the week with a fair bit of rain

across the southern half of the UK.

That will work its way northwards.

The southeast will dry up

but the southwest will have outbreaks of rain,

breezy too. Rain, too, in Northern Ireland.

The best of any sunshine

will be across central and northern Scotland,

temperatures 6 or 7 degrees,

11 or 12 in the London area.

Into the weekend, and there will be rain at times.

Some of that could be on the heavy side,

there'll be a bit of a breeze,

and it's not going to feel great, still a bit on the chilly side.

Friday's rain continues its journey northwards,

and at the start of the weekend,

the isobars get closer together,

so the winds will be picking up,

the rain will be setting in.

It'll be wet and windy in Northern Ireland.

Some rain for the eastern side of England

but the further south and west you go,

it's more like scattered showers on the breeze.

8 or 9 degrees,

maybe 11 in the south-eastern corner.

By Sunday, the wettest weather

is further south,

moving its way eastwards.

Drier further north but still with a few showers

in western Scotland and Northern Ireland.

As we go through Sunday night,

that area of rain moves away

and to start the new week,

it looks like we'll see some rain

in the southwest.

Elsewhere, maybe a shower early on

but a lot of dry and bright weather

but cloud will increase

and we'll see showers developing,

maybe a little bit of rain in Scotland

and Northern Ireland.

Top temperatures - 8 or 9 degrees in

Glasgow and Belfast,

10 or 11 in Cardiff and London.

Looking further ahead -

the jet stream

is there or thereabouts, and with

that trough to the south of the UK,

we are likely to see some rain

developing in the southern half

of the UK, but with this fairly flat

wave in the jet stream,

it'll be a westerly wind,

keeping it not quite so chilly.

Then the jet stream will move

further north,

taking that trough with it,

and taking the rainfall with it.

It dries up a little the south.

Into next weekend,

we see the jet stream becoming

much more amplified.

We are going to see some outbreaks

of rain to go with that,

but also some colder air

coming down from the northwest.

Expect temperatures to drop away.

It is staying unsettled.

It will be quite windy at times,

with some outbreaks of rain,

and also turning colder.

That colder feel could last

for quite some time.

Oh, it's on.

Let's go racing!