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Rather mixed weather but there will be a colder spell before Christmas
As always, the atmosphere cannot make up its mind what to do in the lead up to the Christmas period. It is almost as though it deliberately wants the weather forecasters to have a headache trying to predict as to whether it will be cold or mild, wet or dry.
This year is no exception since I think that the weather will be very changeable as we go through December, but then there is a chance that there could be a cold snap just prior Christmas, before things warm up again.
Saturday 13 December to Friday 19 December
During this week I think we will see the pressure rising across the country, but introducing north to northwest winds so, consequently, it will be a cold week. The Midlands and all of southern England will have a rather wet and windy weekend with the winds possibly reaching gale force, especially in the southwest where there could be some structural damage. High pressure will then build in, and the rain and strong winds will die away, but it will become much colder with sunny spells by day and some severe frosts at night.
Wales, northern England, east Anglia and Northern Ireland will also have a miserably wet and windy weekend, but it will be pretty mild. During the early part of the week it will become drier, brighter but much colder, with sunny spells and night time frosts. Some showers are likely which will turn to sleet or snow over the coasts and hill of Northern Ireland, northeast England and east Anglia.
Scotland will have a cold week with a mixture of sunshine and snow showers, which will give some accumulations of snow over the mountains, and also a widespread frost at night.
Saturday 20 December to Friday 26 December
This is often a tricky week to forecast for, even at the last minute, and this year is no exception. It does look set to be colder leading up to the Christmas week, with low pressure to the east giving northerly wind for most of us. However, later in the week, and probably just in time for Christmas Day, the winds will become more westerly, bringing in wetter and milder weather.
So it looks like a very unsettled weekend with a lot of showers which will fall as snow over the hills, and may turn to sleet and snow over some lower ground as well. Inland, sheltered from the cold northerly winds, there will be a widespread, and often severe, frost at night. High pressure to the west of the country is expected to topple eastwards and move through as a ridge of high pressure just prior to Christmas Eve bringing drier weather with sunny days, but very frosty nights.
By Christmas Day I think the wind could well have settled back into the west bringing in milder weather again, but the timing of this change is, to say the least, very critical. It is then likely to become fairly mild with sunny spells and a few showers, these mainly over the north and west of Scotland and Northern Ireland where it could become quite cloudy at times.
Saturday 27 December to Friday 2 January
During this last week of the year I expect low pressure to dominate the weather giving predominately westerly winds, although there could be a temporary swing into the colder north or northwesterles behind the weather fronts. So for the whole of the country it is likely to be a mild, breezy week with a lot of cloud and some rain pushing in from the west.
There is a chance that, behind a particularly vigorous cold front, the winds could swing into the north or northwest for a time bringing much colder, brighter weather, and giving some snow showers over Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and the mountains of north Wales.
Saturday 3 January to Wednesday 7 January
The winds should have returned into the west during the first week of 2004, so most parts of the country will be relatively mild with bands of rain moving in from the Atlantic to be followed by sunny spells and showers, with most of the showers over Northern Ireland, northern and western Scotland, western England and Wales.
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