Weather United Kingdom

Monday 27 November—Sunday 3 December

Gloves, hats and thick coats for start of winter

It will remain cold for much of this week as winds will be blowing all the way from the Arctic. High pressure to the west of us and low pressure to the east will produce strong northerly winds into the early part of December. However this week is starting off on a less cold note, a band of rain clearing the south coast on Monday morning accompanied by milder air from the Atlantic. The cold air will return from the north during Monday and persisting up to the weekend. The strongest winds during the week will be over eastern areas with gales at times along the east coast. There will also be frequent showers over northern and eastern areas, these showers falling as snow on higher ground and even some sleet to lower levels too. There will be an ice risk at nights The driest and brightest weather will be over western areas from southwest Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the western half of England. Here long sunny spells by day but widespread frosts at nights.
Towards the end of the week, we will begin to see a change to less cold conditions. Atlantic air will feed around the top of the high pressure bringing cloudy skies and patchy rain which will extend southwards across the country during the weekend.

Monday 4 December—Sunday 10 December

The cold air fights back

After a briefly milder interlude at the start of the meteorological winter, it does look as though the cold Arctic air will become re-established across the British Isles. We will gradually lose the grey, damp conditions and replace them with blue skies and blustery showers. The showers will be mainly across northern Scotland but also affecting coastal areas further south. They will fall as snow on higher ground and even some sleet to low levels at times. Inland areas away from the north will enjoy sunny skies by day with frosty conditions at nights. The main feature of the weather will be the biting northerly wind with many layers of clothing required if you are planning to be outside for any length of time. Temperatures throughout the week look set to remain a degree or two below where they should be in early December.

Monday 11 December—Sunday 24 December

Remaining cold but for how long?

At this stage it does look as through the cold weather will persist during the middle part of December with only very small, slow moving changes in the weather pattern. There will continue to be sunny spells and scattered showers, the showers falling as snow on higher ground and possibly to lower levels as the heavier showers pass by. There will be widespread frosts at nights and also the risk of icy stretches. As we move into the second half of December, there is an increasing chance of seeing spells of milder weather with outbreaks of rain and also windy. This will be as a result of further pulses of air pushing in from the Atlantic. However the overall signal from all the various weather computer models is for temperatures to remain on the cold side.

Next week

Its Christmas.... will it be white? Watch this space.