07/01/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. The Arctic blast across North America has been well documented.

Well, I'm pleased to say the storm has moved away.

Slowly but surely, things will get a little less cold as that

storm pushes off towards Greenland.

We've been asked here at the Weather Centre,

is it heading in our direction, and the straight answer is no.

We're still under this influence of high pressure, and for us Sunday is

going to be cold, clear but quite quiet,

with the storm staying out into the Atlantic.

So, it's going to be a hard frost first thing on Sunday morning,

temperatures in rural parts of sheltered glens in Scotland

well down, as low as minus ten, maybe even lower, but eventually

we'll see some sparkling skies, some lovely sunshine for all of us.

A little bit more of a breeze down towards the south-east,

but temperatures will slowly recover here, four to seven degrees.

Still a little bit disappointing in Scotland,

zero to three as a daytime maximum.

We could see clear skies here across the north

and a hard frost again as we head into Monday morning,

but again the breeze will strengthen,

and down towards the south and east there'll be a little more cloud,

so temperatures will hold up first thing Monday morning,

slightly above freezing. Not particularly warm, is it?

But further north, again it's a cold and frosty start. But on Monday,

that's where we're likely to see the best of the sunshine,

through Scotland and Northern Ireland

and maybe northern England, because that easterly wind

is driving in more cloud across England and Wales.

It's going to feel cold and drab, a January afternoon,

not particularly pleasant, four to six degrees but feeling colder.

The best of the sunshine may be further north and west.

As we move out of Monday into Tuesday, it gets a little bit messy.

We still keep a south-easterly breeze, which will keep some cloud

and a cool feel along North Sea coasts,

but at the same time this weather front is trying to

push in from the Atlantic, and that will drag with it ahead of it

a southerly wind, so slightly milder air.

So a real west/east divide on Tuesday.

Along that east coast, where it stays cloudy and cool,

four or five degrees. Further south and west, double digits return.

Now, this is going to be the difference between this

weather front turning to snow or rain.

Because it's bumping into slightly milder air,

we're not too concerned about it in terms of snowfall.

Any snow that we do get from it will be to higher

ground across Scotland, and that weather front is going to linger

for quite some time on Wednesday, particularly up into the north.

So it'll grind to a halt, it'll be rain, snow to higher ground.

Elsewhere a slightly milder feel, but a fair amount of cloud.

The showery bits and pieces continue for much of Wednesday afternoon.

Signs of something a little bit brighter by the end of the day.

A brief ridge will take over on Thursday.

So a west/east divide, really, on Thursday,

the best of the sunshine further west after a chilly start.

Further east we keep a little bit of cloud coming off the North Sea,

so here temperatures slightly disappointing.

Now, further ahead,

it looks as though we're going to see a bit of a west/east

divide developing, with a high pressure system

sitting in Scandinavia keeping things relatively quiet.

The jet stream has been quite weak,

but there are indications at the end of the week that we'll see

a strengthening jet,

and that could try to push in low pressures from the west.

That means that the further north and west you live, there is

the potential that we could see some wetter

and at times pretty windy weather,

but it does look as though further east things might stay pretty quiet.

The best of the drier weather is likely to be in the eastern areas.

The south-east could see a problem with frost and fog,

classic January mornings.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty as to the

longer-term outlook, and I'll firm up on this tomorrow. Take care.