29/11/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. December is just around the corner

and at the very start of the month we may see some milder air,

but I think it's not going to last - generally

a cold theme with some minor variations.

High pressure to the west of us, lower pressure to the east,

everything coming down from the north.

The isobars, the winds, coming in from the north

and that's dragging down colder air

and it's getting colder

over the next couple of days.

The wind direction has changed slightly,

so we're seeing more wintry showers

down the eastern side of England,

as well as a few wintry showers

for northern Scotland.

For many of these western areas

where we had the showers on Tuesday,

Wednesday should be drier

and a lot of the UK will be dry

and sunny, but cold again.

Temperatures three in the central belt,

seven, if you're lucky,

across southern parts of England and Wales.

Now, as we head into Thursday morning,

as the air's getting colder,

so the frost, I think, will be much more widespread, but again,

many places will be dry and sunny

after that frosty start.

More showers coming back

into Northern Ireland, to western Wales,

to the far southwest of England,

again some showers

near coastal areas of eastern England

and eastern Scotland.

Those showers could be wintry,

particularly over the hills,

but it will be cold

and probably Thursday

the coldest day of the next few,

with temperatures typically

three to five degrees maximum

in the afternoon.

As we head towards the end

of the week and we move into December,

this little high pressure here will tend

to drift slowly and change its position,

allowing these weather systems

to come around the top of it and

this is where we get the milder air,

but it gets in very, very slowly.

So a lot of cloud for Scotland

and Northern Ireland,

a little rain and drizzle,

brighter for England and Wales,

still a cold wind

and some showers in that south-eastern corner

where we're clinging on

to this colder air for another day,

but the milder air is coming in,

because we'll lose the northerlies,

get something more from the Atlantic,

more of a westerly breeze.

It does take a while, though,

for the temperatures to recover, to lift,

as that milder air comes in,

but this is what we're looking at on Saturday.

So seven, eight,

and maybe even nine degrees there.

A lot of cloud,

going to lose the sunshine,

but we'll lose those wintry showers.

Weak weather fronts rotating around the top

of that area of high pressure

and moving down across the UK.

Still behind that weather front there,

there's a lot of cloud coming in

across Scotland and Northern Ireland,

a bit of sunshine perhaps

but more cloud coming down

across England and Wales.

On that cold front, that weak weather front,

there'll be a little rain around,

but temperatures back up

to nine or ten degrees,

so that's a bit milder than it would normally be

at the time of year.

But as we head into next week,

the jet stream is going to change again,

we get these major undulations

in the jet stream, moving northwards,

southwards and we get on the wrong side,

if you like, of the jet stream,

so we get back into the colder air.

So that means as we move into next week,

we return to those colder

north and north-westerly winds bringing in some sunshine,

those showers turning more wintry as the air gets colder

and we get more frost around as well at night as skies tend to clear.

So that's the general theme as we head into next week

and that's because high pressure is out towards the west

and we're drawing down these winds again from the north,

colder winds back in across the UK.

However, there is a small chance

later next week that the position of

the high could change and we may get

some milder Atlantic air once again.

It's less likely to happen, that is,

and if it does, all too briefly, just like this weekend.