01/02/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

And so we say goodbye to January.

The days are getting longer, the sun is getting stronger,

but make no mistake, winter is far from over.

Much colder air moved back

across the UK during Wednesday.

For some of us the return of snow showers.

Some heavy ones around, too.

But with cold air you also get

sparkling sunshine occasionally too.

That was the case on Wednesday

and will also be the case over the next few days.

But the cold air is here

and it's here for the foreseeable.

Occasionally we might get attempts

at milder air coming in from the Atlantic.

One at the weekend does not succeed,

and a bigger area of mild air into the start

of next week tries to come in, but look how the life

is squeezed out of this too as the cold air wins.

This milder air represents weather systems from the Atlantic

coming in, and because the cold air wins,

the moisture from these weather systems may fall

increasingly as snow, as we'll see.

Let's get to the day today

and over the next few days, starting with

Thursday's weather, and it's quite a strong

north-westerly flow across the UK.

So clearly that's a cold direction. An icy start.

Further wintry showers in places,

rain, sleet, snow, hail.

Snow tending to be just at the higher ground, northern Scotland,

Northern Ireland, Wales, the West Midlands into south-west England.

Many other places will be dry

with some of that sparkling sunshine

and temperatures at around 4-7 Celsius.

A frost on Friday morning, fewer showers.

There'll be a few where the wind is strongest

towards the North Sea coast, mainly of rain.

A lighter wind elsewhere,

some of that sunshine.

In fact, a fine winter's day on Friday.

But then remember that area of mild air trying

to come in from the Atlantic with the weather system for the weekend?

Well, here is the moisture from that, but remember,

the cold air won, so as we see outbreaks of rain

pushing east on Saturday into the cold air,

a chance for sleet and snow in the hills of Scotland

and northern England.

Perhaps to lower levels in places.

And then, as the moisture hangs around, across

central and eastern parts on Saturday night and into Sunday,

a chance of sleet and snow perhaps even to southern areas

for a time out of this before it fizzles out during Sunday.

To the west, after some heavy and wintry showers on Saturday,

with a strong wind, increasingly dry

and sunny weather on Sunday.

Things quieten down a bit,

but, of course, it is still cold

because the cold air wins.

Now, high pressure has built in

for start of next week, for Monday,

but then we see another one of those Atlantic weather systems.

An attempt at milder air coming in that won't succeed,

but the moisture from that feeding in late Monday,

into Tuesday, and as it pushes its way southwards

it could well produce some sleet and snow in places

so that's certainly something to watch.

And that is the weather pattern for next week,

maybe beyond into the following week too.

High pressure from the Azores,

south-west of us, building towards UK.

At times the flow of air around that

means a chilly north-westerly wind

with sunshine and a few wintry showers.

Occasionally the high pressure will be pushed away south-westwards

once again as we see low pressure from the Atlantic moving in.

Remember, the mild air with these does not win.

The cold air holds on in the UK

so the moisture from these could produce sleet

and snow in places, and then as they pull away,

the high pressure builds back in again,

things settle briefly and we're back into

that chilly north-westerly flow

with sunshine and wintry showers.

So let's break that down.

What can we expect next week, into the following weekend,

even into the following week possibly?

Cold air holding on.

When high-pressure is close by,

this is where you get the drier, sunnier weather,

the sparkling sunshine,

but a chance of wintry showers.

When low pressure comes in

it will be wetter briefly

and a chance of sleet and snow just about anywhere.

So we may be changing the month

for the final month of winter,

but there's a lot of life left in winter yet.