Wednesday afternoon forecast 22/12/21
22 December - National weather forecast presented by Steven Keates.
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00:00Hello there. Well in the run up to Christmas we're going to see a change in our weather
00:04across the United Kingdom. And this is taking place as I speak with outbreaks of rain coming
00:09in from the west through the course of Wednesday. As this bumps into the cold air following
00:13a very cold night for parts of the UK last night there is a risk of some freezing rain
00:17and therefore some ice, particularly parts of Scotland. And for Wednesday again it's
00:21another cold day for much of the country. Now you can see the rain coming in across
00:25parts of Wales, Northern Ireland, North West England, pushing up into southern and central
00:29Scotland. And as this bumps into the cold air that's in place here well we've got a
00:33risk of some freezing rain for a time or some rain falling onto frozen surfaces. Either
00:37way that does bring the risk of some ice so bear that in mind if you're travelling on
00:41Wednesday afternoon. So north of Scotland it's drier and brighter, a few wintry showers
00:45perhaps for the far north of Scotland and elsewhere across England and Wales we'll have
00:49to, some drips and drabs of rain, there will be some drier, brighter interlude at times
00:52but on the whole quite a lot of cloud. Now it will eventually turn a little bit milder
00:57towards the south west with potentially eight or nine degrees into the south west corner
01:01of England. But for most of us it will be another cold day, particularly so across eastern
01:04England, northern and eastern Scotland with temperatures only a few degrees above freezing.
01:10Now we'll continue to track our rain further north across Scotland through Wednesday evening
01:14into Thursday night. There's a continued risk of some ice and some snow for the mountains
01:18of central and northern Scotland so again something to bear in mind if you're travelling
01:22here. Again the far north of Scotland staying in that colder, drier air. Further south there
01:26after some brief spells of rain, lots of dry weather to end the night, a few clear spells
01:30but on the whole quite a bit of cloud. Now the one thing we will notice this coming night
01:35is it won't be nearly as cold as it was last night. Perhaps an early dip in temperatures
01:38in the east but on the whole we're looking at mild south westerly winds bringing in milder
01:43air so temperatures by the end of the night potentially ten to twelve degrees in the far
01:46southwest, more typically four to eight. So Thursday a very different day to what we've
01:51seen of late. Generally a more unsettled picture across the country with bands of rain coming
01:55in from the west from time to time, some dry and brighter loads in between. I think the
01:59rain for a good part of England and Wales not amounting to too much. The lion's share
02:03of the rain for northern England, perhaps northern Ireland, certainly for parts of Scotland
02:06where it will end up being quite a wet day for a good part of Scotland. Some quite heavy
02:09persistent rain and again the threat of some hill snow for the mountains of central and
02:13northern Scotland. Brighter still for the far north of Scotland and some brighter skies
02:17coming in later in the day across Wales and the southwest where it will be very mild,
02:21twelve or thirteen degrees, much milder than recently. Elsewhere temperatures up a notch
02:25but not as mild as it will be for the southwest. So battle lines are well and truly drawn in
02:31the weather world as we move towards Christmas with fronts continuing to push their way in
02:35from the southwest bringing in milder air here but coming up against this block of very
02:39cold air that's affected much of northern and eastern Europe. Weather to form, well
02:44this is where we've got the greatest chance of seeing some snow on Christmas Day although
02:47it has to be said there are still some uncertainties in the forecast but on the whole it looks
02:51like a bit of a three way split come Saturday the 25th. So how's it in I guess then for
02:57Christmas Day itself? It looks like a three way split across the north of the UK certainly
03:00in the cold air with the best of any dry or bright weather for the northern half of Scotland.
03:05In the south more likely to be in the milder air although it will be quite unsettled here
03:09certainly likely to see some heavy showers for example in the southwest and in between
03:13well this is where we've got our weather front stuck. So quite a lot of rain for the likes
03:17of northern England on this northern edge as it engages with that colder air then this
03:21is where we've got the snowiest too potentially into southern Scotland as well and either
03:24way I think whether it's rain or snow here with a cold easterly wind it's going to feel
03:28pretty raw on Christmas Day. So a three way split, quite a lot of uncertainty in the forecast
03:32so the best message I can say at this stage is to keep up to date with the forecast and
03:35the best way you can do that of course is by following the Met Office across social
03:39media or on our website metoffice.gov.uk