15/12/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. I think it's fair to say

it's been quite a wintry week of weather,

but it looks as though Mother Nature releases her grip

a little on winter as we move towards the weekend.

For today, it will be a quieter story

in terms of weather -

a northerly wind driving in some showers

off the North Sea coast

and one or two down into the south-west,

but sandwiched in between the two,

it'll be drier with some sunshine coming through.

A few wintry showers into the far north of Scotland

and as we go through the night,

clear skies will allow a frost to form.

But it looks as though Saturday

will be the last of the cold days,

still under the influence of that cold air,

but as we move through

the second half of the weekend,

a south-westerly wind will drive in milder,

but slightly wetter conditions from the west.

But we will start off on Saturday

on a frosty note for many of us.

The exception, really,

Northern Ireland, Wales and south-west England.

A little more cloud

and a few scattered showers here,

but where we've got the clear skies

and the sunshine after that frost,

temperatures are not going to recover very quickly.

In fact, we'll only see afternoon highs

of around 3 degrees

so it's going to be cold,

milder to the south-west.

But the mild air's on its way

as we've already told you,

and this little nose of high pressure

quietens things down through the night,

but it won't be long before this weather front

starts to influence the story

by the end of the weekend.

That's going to bring some rain,

some of it heavy for a time,

into Northern Ireland, Scotland,

eventually into western fringes of Wales

and south-west England.

A south-westerly wind,

milder air starts to push in -

double digits where we've got the cloud and the rain.

Now, that front will sweep through

overnight Sunday into Monday

and then this high pressure will build.

Now, this is quite important

because this looks likely

to set the trend up for next week

and, in fact, the high pressure stays

under the influence to the south here.

This south-westerly wind will continue to drive in

a few more showers, but, as you can see,

8 to 12 degrees, a milder sort.

Eventually, we'll start to see a weather front

starting to squeeze in from the north-west -

the isobars squeezing together,

the winds strengthening,

but all the time, central and southern areas

will be under the influence of this high pressure.

So, that could lead to some frost

and potential for some fog,

which will be slow to lift,

but it's going to be mild for all,

double digits quite widely on Tuesday,

still the potential for some showers

which will eventually turn into rain

as that frontal system pushes in during Wednesday.

As you can see, highs of 9 to 12 degrees

so let's just recap.

So far this week, this has been the story.

The jet stream has been to the southern half,

the southern flank of the UK,

and once we're to the north of the jet stream,

that allows this north-westerly flow.

We're on the colder side of the jet.

But as we move into next week,

the jet stream is going to move

and in actual fact, it will push

to the north and west of us.

Now, what that's going to do,

it's going to allow this south-westerly flow

to kick in and so milder for all,

but also it's going to deflect low pressures

up into the north-west

so it looks likely into next week

that we could see areas of high pressure

clinging on into the south-east corner,

early morning frost

and fog could be an issue,

but at the same time,

that south-westerly flow

will continue to drive in

areas of low pressure into the north and west.

That's where we're likely to see

the most unsettled weather into next week.

So, just to recap,

it looks as though it's going to stay mild

for most of next week with spells of rain

chiefly to the north and west,

most of the drier weather into the south.

So, that's how it's looking.

I haven't alluded to Christmas weekend.

I will do that same time tomorrow.

Take care.