30/01/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

We'll update you on the weather prospects for the whole

of the British Isles in the next couple of minutes in some detail

for the forthcoming week. Then as we get on into next week,

I'm just going to run a couple of scenarios by you.

There's a bit of uncertainty about what is going to go on.

In the shorter term,

the last of the weekend's mild airs were rudely pushed aside

by a cold front coming down from

the northern end of the British Isles

and that's introduced the air mass that will

predominate across most parts for the greater part of this week.

A little ridge of high pressure gives a bright

but frosty start for the greater part of England

and Wales,

but it runs out of influence as you move up

towards the north and west of Scotland where it will be wet

and windy right from the word go.

Elsewhere, the sunshine rather losing out to a veil of cloud

ahead of another set of weather fronts moving in towards

the south-west of both Wales

and England to finish off the day.

Light and patchy rain here but that rain in the north,

there's something about it

and it could well be before it stops raining, we could see

50 to 60 millimetres of rain with some snow across the highest ground.

Here, as we move from Tuesday into Wednesday,

that weather front moves its way slowly

but surely down into the greater part

of England and Wales.

Behind it, the air already showing signs

of wanting to turn much colder,

temperatures at a low of 1, 2 or 3

in the major towns and cities.

So here is the scenario for the start of Wednesday.

Not one but two weather fronts across the south.

You can imagine the amount of cloud there.

Notice the number of isobars too.

So even though it is brighter behind those weather fronts,

it will be no warmer because the wind is starting to come in

from the north-west,

not a particularly warm direction.

There will be wintriness about the showers across the high ground

and in the south, eventually you get to see some sunshine.

Wednesday into Thursday,

we're still cranking those isobars

even further around towards

a north and north-westerly

and there are still a lot of them.

So Thursday, fewer showers perhaps

away from these exposed

northern and eastern shores.

The best of the sunshine away from the North Sea counties,

but look at the temperatures -

Again, 5, 6, 7, 8 degrees.

Add in the strength of the wind, not a warm day

despite the presence of the sunshine.

And we do it pretty much all again on Friday.

The last of the showers just hanging onto those

eastern shores of England.

Then some sunshine,

then we start to lose the sunshine

away towards the north and west

and why is that?

We've got a set of weather fronts moving in from the Atlantic

so this makes for a pretty wet

start to the weekend.

Quite an active weather front there

draped right across the heart of the British Isles

and there may well be a bit of a conversion across

the highest ground of some of that rain to snow.

Following on behind, it's a mixture of sunny spells,

but quite a lot of cloud and some showers.

Now, further ahead than that,

we have got two high pressures to consider.

If you've been with us over the past day or two,

we may have well have spoken about how dominant

the high pressure over Scandinavia was going to become.

We'll call that, if you like, scenario one.

If that was going to be the case,

it is suggested that we might end up with a really cold easterly

coming in from the continent, from, in fact, up around Siberia.

Not a warm direction at any time of year, especially in January

and February.

Scenario two may well

be the one that wins out,

where we bring a high pressure in from the Azores.

Still pushing a north-westerly down across the British Isles

but relatively speaking, a slightly milder direction.

Still some uncertainty about all of that.

Whichever one wins out, it's going to be pretty dry,

it certainly will be colder than of late, but how cold?

That is the question.