20/12/2017 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello there. Our weather looks pretty quiet for the next few days,

by this time next week, it will be much more disturbed,

much more unsettled, and between now and then, of course,

we have Christmas.

Now, the jet stream, the winds high up in the atmosphere,

is currently sitting well to the north of the British Isles.

And that's driving all the weather systems, all the areas

of low pressure, well away to the north.

Now, by Christmas Day, you'll notice the position of the jet stream

is much further south. It will also be much stronger,

so not only will it develop areas of low pressure and move them across

the British Isles, those areas of low pressure

will potentially turn pretty intense,

with some heavy rain and some strong winds.

More on that, to come, for the time being,

we're sticking with this fairly quiet theme.

Wednesday - quite a cloudy day, particularly in the south.

Some outbreaks of rain along this weak weather front

in northern England, North Wales. Best chance of brightness

for Northern Ireland and Scotland. Quite breezy in the north,

with a few showers, and for most it will be mild -

double-digit temperatures for the most part.

And as we head through Wednesday night, we'll see this weak

weather front slipping its way just that little bit further south.

Some very misty, murky conditions for hills in the west,

quite drizzly as well. Some clear spells further north,

where it will be, I suppose, on the chilly side but generally

a mild start to Thursday morning. So this weather front

will just continue to wriggle and writhe around

as we go through Thursday but as this area of high pressure

builds its way in, it will tend to squeeze much of the life

out of the weather front, so it will mostly be light and patchy rain,

which at this stage looks likely to be moving northwards

and eastwards again on Thursday.

With that, a lot of cloud, some misty, murky, drizzly conditions

for some of the hills. Brightest of the weather up towards

the north-east, where it will also be on the cool side. For many,

again though, it will be mild.

Now, on Friday, remember that area of high pressure

is squeezing the life out of that weather front,

so actually although there will be large amounts of cloud,

there will be a lot of dry weather too, best of the brightness

up towards the north-east, and this area of high pressure

is still with us as we head into the start of the weekend.

But...this frontal system pushing in from the north-west is just the

first sign of that more active weather that

we'll be starting to feel the effects of as we get into

Christmas and beyond. It will bring some rain into northern areas

during Saturday, increasingly brisk winds as well.

Still mild at this stage, you'll notice.

Those winds picking up even further as we go into Christmas Eve.

This weather front only making slow progress southwards

and eastwards, the further south you are it should be largely dry.

Still pretty cloudy, could be some mist and fog patches around as well.

Now, as we move out of Christmas Eve towards Christmas Day,

here comes that more active weather. The jet stream by this stage

will be pushing that bit further south.

What that's going to do is spin up an area of low pressure.

As that drifts its way eastwards, for a time

we'll draw mild air in from the south,

but on the back edge of that low we'll start to get into

something colder for a time. Now, this transition is likely to

happen around Christmas Day. There is a bit of uncertainty

about the timing, and even once that has happened, notice further

areas of low pressure developing in the Atlantic,

so more unsettled weather to come. So, for Christmas week

there will be some colder spells, it certainly won't be cold

all the time, but there will be some heavy rain at times,

some gales as well. So, quiet for the time being,

then we have Christmas, and then things look much,

much more unsettled.