02/02/2018 Weather for the Week Ahead

Hello, there. We may have started February, a new month,

on Thursday, but the Arctic air returned with a vengeance.

It was bitterly cold in the wind,

we had weather watcher pictures

such as this from near Fort William,

a ski resort, sent in.

Yes, we've had more snowfall,

and with that Arctic air flow

staying with us

through Friday and into the weekend -

the likelihood is,

we'll see more snowfall.

Probably not as much on Friday,

because the winds are easing out,

we've got a little ridge of high pressure building in,

but the risk of ice is still with us first thing -

at least in eastern areas,

where there could be a wintry mix to the showers,

as there could for the north of Scotland,

but, by and large,

the winds will be lighter than Thursday.

There'll be fewer showers,

more sunshine -

one or two for the west, as you can see -

but, by and large, lovely, crisp sunshine.

It's not going to feel warm,

but it won't feel as bitter

as it did on Thursday -

and, already, by the end of the day,

we've got the next weather system coming in.

That's this, well, slightly milder air,

which will get squeezed out

as it comes into the cold air,

the blocking cold air,

that's sitting across the eastern side of Europe,

and that, again, happens

later Monday into Tuesday,

so we're going to see a succession

of weather systems

coming in off the Atlantic,

starting with a lot of moisture -

but that moisture gets squeezed out

by this cold air,

which is just sitting in its way of progress,

and, really, that sums up most of the week ahead.

So, the first one comes in Saturday,

into that cold air.

Yes, there will be some wintriness around,

but it tends to start to peter out,

so it just looks cold and damp

for many of us.

A little bit of wintriness,

and still the north-easterly

starting to pick up

across the eastern side of England,

where, actually, we could have some sunshine.

So, that weather front is still with us

as we go through Saturday night into Sunday,

but it's coming into our high pressure,

our cold air,

so it's tending to peter out.

So, Sunday just looks cloudy to start,

with still a smattering of rain or sleet around,

but some good sunshine coming out

in Northern Ireland, Western Scotland,

but the easterly feed, or the north-easterly feed,

starts to pick up,

and we could actually see some snow

as we go through Sunday night and into Monday

across the south-eastern quadrant of the country,

so, that could cause some issues, of course,

depending on how far west it pushes,

and, by that stage,

we've already got the next weather system

coming in off the Atlantic

into Northern Ireland and Western Scotland,

so, posing a risk of some snow later on,

and certainly so through Monday night

and into Tuesday -

and the question mark is how quickly

and how far eastwards that'll come.

At the moment,

it looks set to fizzle out again,

if you like, across central parts of the UK,

so, again, there's a real risk

that we could see some snowfall

around during Tuesday,

particularly Western areas -

but, again, we've got those showers,

initially in the south and the east,

and there'll be quite a brisk wind blowing,

so we could see scenes like this,

some disruption,

because of that snow as we move into Tuesday.

You can see the trend, here, can't you?

Because, again, later in the week,

we've got another area

of slightly milder, moister air

coming off the Atlantic,

but it comes into that cold, blocking air,

and, again, as it falls into that cold air,

there could be some wintry issues,

and the mild air just tends to disappear,

it gets squeezed out,

so, later in the week, again,

we could see some issues with snow,

because that cold air

is reluctant to move away.

So, it will be cold,

we'll have night-time frost,

risk of ice,

certainly a risk of some snow,

which could be disruptive -

but there's just the hint

that towards the weekend, at least,

it may become a little bit milder -

but, again, the jury's out.

As ever, we'll keep you posted.

The warnings, there, on the website, as well,

and we'll have more for you tomorrow evening. Bye-bye.