18/01/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello. Cold for all, snow for some.

That's how this week's weather has

played out so far.

Changes, though, next week. This

week, we've been in the cold air

on a chilly north-westerly wind

coming around low pressure

close to Iceland.

Now, next week, a transformation,

something closer to average,

even mild for some of us

but we still have low pressure

close to Iceland,

so how can you keep that here,

but one week have a cold wind,

the next week have a milder wind?

Keep watching, for the answer.

But right now, the cold weather

and the disruptive cold weather

in the form of either snow or

wind keeps with us.

This area of low pressure brings

some problems going into

Thursday morning, particularly with

snow - parts of Scotland,

northern England, with wind

across parts of England and Wales.

Now, both aspects ease quite quickly

going into Thursday morning

but there could still be

an impact on travel for some of us,

so do check before you head out.

We're left, as Thursday goes on,

with the chilly

west north-westerly wind,

sunny spells and showers.

Frequent showers coming in towards

the north-west of the UK,

I think, increasingly of snow to

lower levels later in the day

and still feeling at or below

freezing for northern England,

for Scotland, for Northern Ireland.

And going into Friday as well,

our weather pattern stays

very similar. Still

the bulk of the wintry showers,

of rain, sleet, snow

coming in towards the north-west

of the UK. The further south

and east you are,

you are more likely to stay dry

and see some sunshine

and temperatures are very similar.

Now, a bit of a change going

into the start of the weekend.

The gap between weather systems -

cold, frosty, icy start...

But actually a lot of fine weather

on Saturday. Still one or two

wintry showers around

but a lot of people will stay dry.

Increasing cloud across southern

parts of the UK, though, ahead

of the next weather system coming in

for part two of the weekend. And

here it comes and it is of course

bumping into cold air across us,

so although there's rain coming in,

some of us will see some snow,

particularly on the leading

edge of this and particularly

across northern England,

parts of Scotland, as it moves in.

So we have to keep watching

Sunday's weather for any impact

on travel. The winds start to pick

up again with this, as well,

but somewhat milder air following

towards the south-west of the UK.

Any breaks between weather systems

all too short because another one

coming in for Monday,

though there's a lot of uncertainty

about the detail of this

but wet, windy but notice

the bulk of this falling as rain

rather than snow. An indication,

then, of something milder

coming next week.

Now, back to that question I posed,

that conundrum I posed

at the start of the broadcast.

This week - cold air,

low pressure close to Iceland.

Next week, though, something milder

coming our way for a time

but we still have low pressure

close to Iceland.

So how is that? You can

keep low pressure here but

change the feel of the weather

across the UK.

Well, this week, although we've

had low pressure here,

the west north-westerly winds

around it with the cold air

have run unhindered right

the way across the UK

into continental Europe. But spot

the difference for next week,

we've got high pressure here,

so although we've got low pressure

to the north-west of us

and cold air emanating from it,

it runs into a block with

that high pressure.

Instead of a north-westerly wind,

the wind backs to a milder

south-westerly coming into the UK

and that's how you can keep

low pressure near Iceland

but give us different weather.

And what sort of weather is

that next week?

Well, it's still driven by low

pressure, it'll still be

wet at times, a lot of it,

though, in the form of rain

rather than snow but still

on northern hills of the UK

there could be some further

snow at times next week.

But overall, the bigger difference,

as we've seen,

is that change to less cold,

closer to average,

milder weather next week.