Increasingly Changeable Next WeekAdded : Saturday at 12:36 The weather has been largely quiet, mild and uneventful in the lead-up to Christmas which has come as good news for those of us needing to get out and about to finish off our Christmas preparations. However changes are on the way as we head through Christmas with increasingly changeable conditions expected to dominate next week.
This is the synoptic chart from earlier on today:
The area of high pressure that has been sat close to southern parts of Britain for the last few days is still there and is still helping to draw up mild west/south-westerly winds across much of the country:
Christmas Eve sees some subtle changes in that the weather fronts to the northwest will start to push south-eastwards as that high gives way somewhat. Therefore although it remains mild, winds will pick up in many areas and outbreaks of rain will push into the northwest, turning heavy and persistent at times:
This rain slowly pushes south-eastwards during Christmas Day allowing clearer but colder conditions to follow on into the northwest by Christmas Night:
Therefore the best chance of seeing a White Christmas comes over the Scottish mountains late in the day:
Thereafter the weather certainly becomes more active courtesy of an increasingly active jet-stream firing across the North Atlantic:
Even by the New Year the jet stream is shown to be streaming across:
You will notice that it is coming straight at us so temperatures will return to nearer normal values but they will fluctuate as the different weather systems pass through. Cold air will never be too far away from the north of the country and this will filter south at times bringing some snow possibilities, especially to northern regions but not necessarily exclusively so. Wednesday looks to be a good example as cold northerly winds sweep south in the wake of low pressure moving away to the east:
And with this cold air comes the risk of wintry showers:
However with such an active jet stream this will only be a short-lived affair with rain and milder air moving in by Thursday although there could be some snow on the leading edge if the latest GFS ► run verified:
Plenty going on next week then as a more active period of weather develops but certainly little sign of any sustained cold spell developing as we head into 2018.
METEOROLOGIST: BARBER |