22/04/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

It's not unusual to have snow in April, we had it last year

but given how mild March was it will be a shock to the system.

Through April we've seen a general

downward trend in the temperatures.

The end of the first week saw the

temperatures soaring to the mid-20s.

But the line of temperature by day

has started to sink southwards,

Cambridge being an example.

However at this time of year given

the sun is increasing in

strength you would expect the

temperature to be rising

through April but it's going to fall

further for the last week of

April and even into the start of May.

This weekend doesn't look too cold.

It should be mostly dry, some sunny spells.

There will be a touch of ground frost by night but it's not

going to be as cold as it will be next week.

The ground frost comes behind this

weak weather front so

a little chilly in the north but

plenty of sunshine on Saturday morning.

Some wintry showers across Scotland.

Elsewhere a lot of cloud, particularly Northern Ireland

and the south and the east but there

will be some good spells of

sunshine and temperatures into the mid-teens.

Not sunshine to the north of that front, it's colder air.

We keep the status quo

with the high pressure and settled

conditions on Sunday. A chilly start for

the marathon runners and spectators.

And then some sunshine comes through.

Towards the north of Scotland we're starting to see

a developing area of low pressure.

We've been keeping our eye on it

most of the week and it still

has potential to bring rain to the far north of Scotland and gales,

if not severe gales.

But most of us have a nice day on Sunday.

As that low pressure moves out to

Scandinavia and the cold front

sinks southward that we allow this

cold Arctic air to blast southwards

right across the UK.

With it some big wintry showers,

hail, thunder, lightening and snow.

Sleet and snow even at lower levels

over the coming few days into

the early part of the new week.

Given the strength

of the wind it will feel bitterly cold.

Monday sees that

cold weather front sinking south

so we're just about hang on to the

temperatures in the teens in

southern areas but it

will feel significantly colder further

north with those showers coming through thick and fast even

at lower levels so temperatures will drop

with the snow showers and in those brisk northerly winds.

Which continue into Tuesday,

plenty more showers

with us then but the cold air by

that stage has reached the

south coast so you can see wintry

weather anywhere.

Unlikely to lie at

low levels but we could see a dusting

further north.

That cold air is

with us by Tuesday, into Wednesday

it's showing

signs later in the week

that we're getting milder air pushing in

off the Atlantic.

It's likely we will

see that colder air being cut off

but at the same time as the high pressure

relinquishes its grip across

the UK and the other low pressure

and the northerly winds are

taken further east, we could then

see another low pressure

coming into the north as the jet

stream buckles and it pushes up

some milder air across the UK.

But before that happens we are at risk of significant frost by

night so farmers and growers beware and some significant showers by day.

It really is a very April-y looking picture.

With the showers

for the first part of the week,

that chilly wind

and wintry showers and the frost risk.

But by the end of the week we'll

start to see things warming

just a little but at that stage the

cold air's heading to Europe.