02/01/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello, there. Some much colder weather is set to arrive

by the end of this coming weekend,

but the big question is, how long will it last?

We'll try and answer that a little later -

but, before then,

everything is coming in from the Atlantic,

so, whilst we get some dips in the temperature,

on the whole, it's wet and windy air

that's heading our way.

This area of low pressure

bringing in that weather front, there,

which is this band of rain,

which briefly falls as snow

over the tops of the Pennines,

the hills in Scotland,

but it doesn't last that long,

and then the winds pick up from the south-west

during the afternoon,

but draw in some brighter conditions eventually.

Those temperatures tend to rise,

but only ahead of some wet and windy weather

that's just poking in to Northern Ireland

by the end of the afternoon,

and it's this deepening area of low pressure

we need to keep an eye on, actually,

because - uncertainty about the exact track of it,

but there are currently warnings

of 60-70mph gusts across southern Scotland,

Northern Ireland and northern England overnight.

The worst of it should be gone,

as that low pressure is out in the North Sea

by Wednesday morning -

but we're left with widespread gales, really,

across much of England and Wales on Wednesday,

a windy day here -

not as windy further north,

but there will be a mixture

of sunshine and showers,

some heavy showers

across many northern and western areas of the UK,

maybe with some hail and thunder in there, too.

Temperatures 7 to 10 degrees,

fairly typically,

so, decent enough temperatures.

Probably gets a bit chillier overnight, though,

as those strong gale force winds

tend to ease down slowly but surely

as that low pressure runs away,

and ahead of the next one

coming in from the Atlantic.

So, we start off chilly and bright in most areas.

A lot of the showers

should have gone by this stage,

but only because we've got this cloud coming in

from the south-west to give some outbreaks of rain.

Again, how quickly that rain comes in

from the south-west,

some uncertainty about that.

It does draw in milder air,

but you can see the contrast in temperatures

south-west to north-east across the UK,

and then, the position of the low

could be driven more across Ireland

into England and Wales,

keeping Scotland in some slightly colder air -

and it will feel cold in that wind, as well -

whereas, just across northern England,

we've got some heavy rain,

maybe some snow over the Pennines,

and these showers rapping in further south

together with some gale force winds,

so, it's a windy few days,

and when the rain comes along,

it's more likely to be heavy -

but things will start to change

as we head into the weekend.

High pressure coming down from Iceland

will push away the low pressure

into the near continent -

but it's a slow process.

Still got some relatively mild air

across the south on Saturday,

we've still got some outbreaks of rain,

but a north to north-easterly wind

starting to cut in behind that,

dropping the temperatures, making it feel colder

and bringing in some showers

around that area of high pressure,

and that high pressure

looks like it's going to build down slowly

across the UK

as we head into the second half of the weekend,

and perhaps into the beginning of the next week.

So, with that high pressure around,

we're drawing down some cold air,

it is going to be turning colder.

For a while, ahead of it,

there'll be some gale force winds

making it feel cold,

drawing in some wintry showers,

but we could see a spell

of drier but colder conditions.

Now, how long is it going to last?

Well, if we look back out in the Atlantic,

we've got a strengthening jet

that's propagating across the Atlantic,

and it's meeting that block

with that area of high pressure.

Signs are that as we head into next week,

we may push that high pressure away,

draw in Atlantic air

and bring, for a while, some snow.