Issued: 0530hrs Wednesday 21st February 2018
Duty forecaster: Matthew Hugo

Increasingly cold and wintry conditions develop across northern Europe, less-cold and more unsettled through the Med


Wednesday
Into Wednesday and high pressure becomes influential across much of England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland leading to drier and colder conditions. Equally high pressure is expected across much of Scandinavia, with some very cold weather developing across Sweden and Finland in particular, bitterly cold in fact with snow flurries here and also with some flurries extending down into Poland and some other eastern areas of Europe. Germany and more central areas of Europe will be cold and dry with some sunny spells and a cold E'ly wind. Similarly rather cold but mainly dry across much of Spain and Portugal. However, much of the Med, especially in and around Italy will continue to be dominated by low pressure bringing showers, longer spells of rain, local thunderstorms and some snow to the Alps.

Thursday
Through into Thursday and similar conditions are forecast to continue. A blocking Scandinavian high pressure means that much of the British Isles, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and many central and eastern areas of Europe, are cold or very cold but mainly dry with some sunshine. It will likely become bitterly cold across parts of Scandinavia with perhaps some extremely low minimum temperatures still possible. More unsettled weather is still, however, expected through the Med with low pressure dominating around Italy bringing further rain and showers, perhaps with local thunderstorms and with additional snowfall to the Alps as well.