Wednesday afternoon forecast 27/12/23
27 December - National weather forecast presented by Aidan McGivern.
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00:00Hi there, Storm Gerrit, named by the Met Office, will continue to bring strong winds, gales,
00:06heavy rain and in some places heavy snow during the rest of Wednesday.
00:11Now the rain arrived on Tuesday across many western parts of the UK and as that rain on
00:17Tuesday night moved into the cold air, you can see by the white colours there, we saw
00:21significant snowfall over the Pennines and to the southern uplands as well.
00:25Now during Wednesday morning turned back to rain as milder air moved in but it's across
00:30northern Scotland where the snow risk continues during the rest of Wednesday.
00:35Storm Gerrit out towards the west of Scotland there bringing weather fronts across the UK,
00:41tightly packed isobars especially for northern Scotland and that's where the heaviest of
00:45the snow will continue during the rest of Wednesday.
00:48Elsewhere, further spells for rain moving in and a couple of occluded fronts bringing
00:53some very lively conditions again to western parts as we end Wednesday.
00:57Now here's the picture on early Wednesday afternoon and as you can see we've got bands
01:03of rain crossing the country from the west and that hill snow across northern Scotland
01:09accumulating snow above 200-300 metres or so and some very substantial accumulations
01:14in places over the highlands above 200-300 metres, we're looking at 20 centimetres plus.
01:21That combined with the gale force winds leading to blizzards, drifting of the snow and some
01:26ice accretions so really treacherous conditions over higher parts of northern Scotland, some
01:32higher routes in particular and that extending into Orkney and later on Shetland as well.
01:38Heavy rain elsewhere accompanied by the strong wind, gusts of 50-60 mph initially across
01:43western parts and then transferring along the English Channel coast and inland gusts
01:47of 45-50 mph across many central and western parts for a time.
01:52So it's certainly going to be a very unsettled afternoon and there'll be numerous impacts.
01:59It is advised that you check conditions before heading out, it could be a busy day on the
02:03roads and it's not going to be helped by the very strong winds, heavy rain and as I mentioned
02:08the hill snow across northern Scotland.
02:11Now apart from northern Scotland it is a mild afternoon although obviously not feeling particularly
02:15pleasant where we've got the heavy rain and strong winds.
02:19Some clearer spells developing but then this next system moves into western England and
02:24Wales during the evening and that again increasing the wind speed, 60-70 mph wind gusts across
02:32exposed parts of west Wales and north-west England accompanied by some heavy showery
02:35rain.
02:36Meanwhile, the winds peaking across northern Scotland, 70-80 mph wind gusts later in the
02:42afternoon and into the evening again could cause some significant impacts.
02:47Now this showery system moves through, the winds do ease a little across all areas overnight
02:53but it stays blustery with further showers coming in from the west and further hill snow
02:58across northern Scotland.
03:00Some clear spells in between but of course with the strong wind, the cloud and the showers
03:04it's not going to be a chilly night for most places except for northern Scotland where
03:08we keep that cold air.
03:10Into the start of Thursday and really it's a blustery day with strong winds continuing,
03:1540-50 mph wind gusts in places particularly where we've got some lively showers moving
03:19through and really it is a day of frequent heavy showers, some of these showers lasting
03:24some time as well, some longer spells of rain especially for southern parts later in the
03:29afternoon and for parts of central and northern Scotland we've got an old occluded front moving
03:33south and that will bring some longer spells of rain and some hill snow once again.
03:38With the wind, obviously it's going to stir the air up enough so that it's not going to
03:42be a particularly chilly day, 12 or 13 Celsius in the south, not quite as cold further north
03:47but mid-single figures for central and northern Scotland, it's going to make it feel cold
03:51with the strong wind, the heavy rain and hill snow.
03:56Into Thursday evening and it stays blustery with further showers moving through, there
03:59will be some clear spells in between the showers, it's likely to rain everywhere all the time
04:03but nevertheless it's staying unsettled and Friday is a similar sort of day with heavy
04:08showers and longer spells of rain, a gusty wind as well before further low pressure and
04:14unsettled weather this weekend.