17/11/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

It's the time of year when it's hard to keep up with the weather,

the ups and downs in temperature in particular -

what to wear, how the weather feels.

Remember, at the start of the week, it was frosty.

Since then, it's turned milder.

15 Celsius in the sunshine

in southern England

on Thursday afternoon,

but by Thursday afternoon

in Scotland and Northern Ireland,

single figure temperatures

with sunshine and showers.

The reason for the change, this cold front,

the leading edge of colder air

moving southwards across the UK

with, on Thursday, a bit of cloud

and patchy rain, then the sunshine

and the showers following on behind

and as that cold air completes its journey southwards

for Friday morning, a widespread frost.

So, the cold air's come back,

but the milder air will mount a fightback next week,

but how long that lasts

is open to question, as we'll find out.

This is the big picture for Friday.

Behind that cold front, high pressure moving in

so a cold, frosty start,

but then to follow during Friday for most of us,

glorious sunshine, light winds,

with the exception of Scotland,

especially northern Scotland where it stays windy,

some gales into the Northern Isles

and plenty of showers packing in here.

Wintry on the hills,

maybe the odd one to Northern Ireland

and north-west England,

but many places will be dry with some sunshine,

but now single figure temperatures.

Anything near 15 is a thing of the past

and temperatures will drop

quickly after dark.

Going into Friday, even if you are out and about

for Children In Need activities,

bear that in mind.

Pudsey will be OK, got a bear thing going on.

The rest of us should stay warm.

Now, going into Saturday, another chilly start.

More cloud around for England and Wales.

There'll be the odd splash of a shower,

perhaps, for a time.

The best of the sunshine will be in Scotland,

though still windy in the north

and still some of those wintry showers around

with the lowest temperatures here 6 or 7 degrees,

enhanced by the wind.

Elsewhere, still most of us single figures.

And another frost Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

Still quite windy towards the far north-east of the UK,

but a frontal system coming into the west on Sunday

looks to bring more cloud, a bit of patchy rain,

eventually some less chilly air.

A lot of uncertainty about the timing of movements

of this north-eastwards.

Maybe as it butts into that colder air

in Scotland on Sunday night

and into Monday morning,

there could be a bit of snow out of it.

We're left on Monday

with a lot of cloud across the UK.

A bit damp, a bit drizzly in places,

maybe some sunny spells in northern Scotland here.

Still quite chilly, elsewhere turning milder.

And it looks like as we go from Monday to Tuesday,

there'll be another slow-moving weather front

coming into the UK,

producing cloud and some outbreaks of rain,

spreading north-eastwards.

Along and to the north-east of this weather system,

you'll hold on to some colder air behind it.

Look how it's turned milder again

with temperatures into double figures

and it looks like,

for much of next week,

the likelihood is

that they will be around.

Low pressure to the north-west,

high pressure to the south-east,

this flow of fairly mild air

with slow-moving weather systems coming in

and always a chance that we'll hold on

to some colder air in Scotland

so the risk as the weather systems move north,

there may be a bit of sleet and snow,

especially into the hills in Scotland.

Less likely but still possible

later in the week

is that high pressure becomes established

to the north-west of the UK and we start

to draw that colder air in,

never too far, of course, from the north-east,

all the way back south across the UK

with temperatures dipping once again.

So, next week getting off to a mild start,

cloudy with some rain at times.

It is likely that it will stay that way

throughout the week,

but there is still a chance

that colder air lurking in the north-east

will come south again.

So, temperatures are about to go up once more,

but they may well be coming back down.

When? Keep watching.