Turning colder, but will there be snow?

Today marks the start of meteorological winter and it seems as though the weather has taken note, with a colder feel for all of us this week.

Provisional statistics recently released by the Met Office show that this autumn has been the third warmest on record, with mean temperatures (an average of day and night temperatures combined) coming in at 1.4C above normal.

Whilst the chill this week can be considered to be nothing unusual for this time of year, I think it’ll feel more noticeable due to us being accustomed to the mildness that autumn has delivered.

And, with Christmas just a few weeks away, there will no doubt be lots of interest as to whether or not it we’ll get any snow.

High pressure building

During autumn, low pressure was often the dominant driving force of our weather, especially during October and November, bringing cloud, wind and quite a lot of rain.

However, this week, high pressure is going to take control of our weather, meaning that it’ll turn more settled compared to what we’ve been used to during the past month.

The cause of the change to high pressure is the jet stream splitting in two in the mid-Atlantic, with one branch heading north of the UK and another well to the south.

This leaves us in a zone of quieter weather, with just occasional weak weather fronts brushing by – especially in the north.

Falling temperatures

The main theme of the weather this week will be one of falling temperatures, by day and by night.

Temperatures across the UK will be in the range of 5 to 9C during the daytime, dropping down as low as -2 to +2C during the night.

Although uncertainty with cloud amounts means that on some nights frost will be patchy, rather than widespread.

Another feature of the weather will be fog, especially with lingering moisture from weak weather fronts that drift over us during the coming week.

Will there be any snow?

For most of us this week, there’ll be a lot of dry weather around. However, there will be some showers in northern and western areas at times.

With the air turning colder, these showers are likely to be wintry over the hills and mountains of Scotland and perhaps northern England.

You’ll have to be relatively high up to see any snowflakes though, with the white stuff only likely to fall above around 400 metres or so.

For the rest of us, any showers are likely to be plain old rain or hail.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website. I’ll also be posting regular updates on Twitter – @liamdutton