Week ahead – It’s mild versus cold with snow possible where they meet - 11/01/21
A battle between mild and cold air this week. Where the two meet there will be rain for many but also some places could get some heavy snow midweek. Alex Deakin has the details
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00:00Hello, welcome to your week ahead forecast from the Met Office.
00:04A real battleground going on this week for some.
00:07It'll stay reasonably mild for most of this week.
00:09For others, it's going to be a cold week.
00:12And where the two meet, well, that
00:14could be where we're going to see some interesting weather.
00:17Some snow is possible through the middle of the week,
00:19especially on Wednesday night and into Thursday.
00:22But it won't be for everyone.
00:24And there's quite a bit of uncertainty about exactly
00:26how much we're going to see.
00:28But definitely a battle between mild and cold
00:31going on for most of this week.
00:32With the mild air down to the south,
00:35this weather front sinking south on Monday night
00:37and reintroducing the cold air across much of northern Britain.
00:41So ice is a big threat for Tuesday morning
00:44across much of northern England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
00:48Could be some very slippery surfaces here.
00:50And temperatures again, where there's snow lying on the ground
00:53across northern Scotland, into negative double figures.
00:55It's a mild start again across the south.
00:57But here, cloud and rain for much of the day.
01:00That rain slowly easing across the Midlands, East Anglia,
01:03but persisting for south Wales and southwest England.
01:06Elsewhere, quite a bit of sunshine around on Tuesday.
01:09But it will be a cold day, particularly
01:11with a brisk wind blowing some wintry showers
01:13over the northern isles.
01:15Temperatures are going to really struggle across much
01:17of northern Britain.
01:18Some places, certainly in the countryside,
01:20struggling to get much above freezing.
01:22Compare and contrast with the southwest,
01:24where double digits are likely on Tuesday.
01:27That's because of warm fronts, which
01:30continues to sit around through Tuesday evening.
01:33And then, very slowly, it starts to push back further eastwards.
01:38And of course, in here, we've got the cold air in place.
01:42So as the wet weather returns and hits that cold air,
01:44we could start to see some further snowfall.
01:48Now, timing is going to be crucial.
01:49At the moment, through Wednesday,
01:51certainly initially over northern England,
01:52southern Scotland, the snow will be mostly over the hills.
01:55And actually, the heavy rain is, of course,
01:57for concern across parts of northern Ireland.
02:00There's a warning in force for rain here,
02:02because it will be mild here.
02:03Double digits again here and across the south,
02:06whereas the cold air still very much in place
02:08on Wednesday across northeast England and much of Scotland.
02:13So that weather front is going to be crucial,
02:15introducing the mild air, but also the heavy rain
02:17for northern Ireland.
02:18So we've got a yellow Met Office warning in place here.
02:21And then across Scotland, northern England,
02:23we have a yellow snow warning in place,
02:25because that weather front doesn't move through.
02:27It ripples and wriggles.
02:29It occludes out, as we say.
02:31This is an occluding weather front,
02:33as a low pressure kind of develops along it.
02:36So a lot of uncertainty about the timing of this weather
02:40front.
02:40And that is crucial in terms of how much snow we're
02:44going to see and exactly where we're
02:46going to see it as we go through Wednesday night
02:48and into Thursday, because that cold air is still
02:50in place across the northeast.
02:54So as we look at Thursday's weather,
02:55we are expecting wet weather across Wales
02:59and much of eastern England.
03:00That will chiefly be of rain.
03:02But where we've got that cold air in place,
03:04we could see snow falling for much of the day.
03:06Now, again, timing is going to be crucial in exactly
03:09where we see that wet weather.
03:11And the intensity is also going to be key as to how much we
03:15see at low levels, because temperatures
03:16are going to be struggling to get to three or four
03:18degrees at best.
03:20And that'll probably be quite late in the day.
03:22Whereas further south, we've got that mild air in place.
03:24So double digits once more.
03:26How much snow are we going to see?
03:28Well, as I say, it's still a few days off
03:29and there is a lot of uncertainty.
03:30But thoughts at the moment, we could easily
03:32see a few centimetres, even down to low levels
03:35with 15 to possibly as much as 30 centimetres on some hills.
03:40But as I said, exact details of that
03:42will firm up over the next couple of days.
03:45That weather front, that occlusion,
03:46finally fizzles out during Thursday evening
03:49and overnight, pushes away.
03:51And then for most, Friday should by and large
03:54be a dry day with a mild air back in place for most places.
03:58But notice behind me, there are more weather fronts
04:00looming large.
04:01So they could start to throw more cloud and rain
04:03into the west later on.
04:05But elsewhere, I see many places looking dry
04:08at the moment on Friday.
04:09Could be a lot of mist around in some places across the east.
04:12And then that rain starting to show its hands,
04:15pushing in towards the west by the end of Friday.
04:17And that's likely to be around into the weekend.
04:20The weather continues to roller coaster in terms of ups
04:23and downs with weather fronts, mild air, cold air,
04:26all battling it out.
04:27But this weather front could bring some wet
04:29and with those isobars quite close together,
04:31some windy weather, at least for the start of the weekend.
04:34But beyond that, there are signs that next week,
04:38the cold may return.
04:40So stay tuned for more updates on that.
04:44The Matt Office will be giving you the very latest
04:46over the next few days.
04:47Best way to stay up to date, of course,
04:49is to follow us on social media.
04:52Those weather warnings will be on the app and the website
04:55constantly being updated.