This is the Met Office UK Weather forecast for the week ahead 17/11/2025 – Arctic air will lead to a a cold week with some rain, sleet and snow. The wintriness will mainly be in the north but will feed further south down the eastern side and perhaps western side at times too. Bringing you this week’s weather forecast is Alex Burkill.
00:00You've probably noticed, but there's a real chill in the air at the moment, an Arctic chill, if you will.
00:05But actually, if we track back and look at the original source of the air, and, well, it's coming from near Siberia
00:12and then crossing over the Arctic, heading towards the UK.
00:16So we have very cold air moving across a very cold area and then coming towards us.
00:21No wonder there's such a chill around at the moment.
00:24As well as this, we do have a front that's making its way southeastwards as we go through Tuesday.
00:28So that's going to bring some wet weather across much of Scotland, some sherry bursts of rain across parts of Northern Ireland
00:34and rain as well, pushing into northern and western parts of England and Wales.
00:39And with that cold air we have across us, no wonder we are going to see some sleet and snow mixed in with that as well.
00:45Over Northern England, really anything wintry is going to be confined just to the very highest ground.
00:49But across Scotland, well, we could see snow on Tuesday to slightly lower levels.
00:53We're talking a bit of wet snow to above around 150 metres, maybe a few centimetres of snow accumulating here.
01:00And above 400 metres, we could see maybe 5 to 10 centimetres.
01:03So a fairly substantial amount.
01:05And even elsewhere, watch out for some icy patches through Tuesday as well.
01:09Could be some difficult, slippery conditions for sure.
01:12Temperatures are on the low side for many, particularly towards the north, a few degrees below average for the time of year.
01:17Closer to normal further south, but worth noting it is going to be markedly colder than it was this time last week.
01:25There is an area of low pressure that's pushing its way southwards as we go through Tuesday night and into Wednesday.
01:31And that's bringing the focus for that burst of showery rain with a bit of sleet, bit of hill snow mixed in.
01:36But a lot of that is going to be clearing away towards the south as we go through the morning.
01:40I'm not sure how much wintry stuff we're going to see across southern areas, mostly just falling as rain.
01:45Then once that clears away, we just have this brisk northerly wind that's piling down the Arctic air coming through.
01:52And because of the direction that that wind is coming from, it's really pivotal to where we see further showery bursts of rain, sleet and snow.
02:00So, yes, northern parts of Scotland seen plenty.
02:03And also down the eastern side of England and eastern Scotland as well, plenty of these rain, sleet and snow showers.
02:09The chance of anything wintry around the coast, probably immediate coast, just seeing some rain.
02:16But you don't need to go too far inland to see something in the form of sleet or snow over modest high ground.
02:23And even some showers across the western side of the UK as well, feeding down on that northerly wind.
02:28So some showers for parts of Northern Ireland could be a bit of sleet and snow over the high ground here.
02:32And also down the western side of Wales, maybe a bit of a Pembrokeshire dangler, feeding some showers into parts of Cornwall as well.
02:40Can't rule out a little bit of sleet and snow as well.
02:43More central inland areas away from those places that I just mentioned, likely to stay mostly dry with the best of the sunshine towards the west.
02:51But a cold feel for sure.
02:53Temperatures for many a couple of degrees down compared to Tuesday.
02:56So even across the south, now turning colder than average for the time of year.
03:01And watch out for some brisk winds, particularly towards the west, could be close to gales through both Wednesday and Thursday.
03:06So that will add to the cold feel for many places too.
03:09The low pressure system I mentioned earlier, that clears away towards the southeast as we go through later Wednesday and into Thursday.
03:15And then we stick with this cold northerly arctic air that's piling its way across the whole country.
03:20And so again, with the direction of the wind, we're going to see those rain, sleet, snow showers falling in similar places really to Wednesday.
03:28So northern parts of Scotland, yes, down the eastern side of the UK as well.
03:32The further north you are, the more likely that they're going to be falling as sleet and snow.
03:36And then some showers around some western parts as well.
03:39Again, best of the sunshine towards the west.
03:41The eastern half likely to stay largely cloudy.
03:44And that will add to the cold, chilly feel.
03:46Again, temperatures a few degrees below average for the time of year.
03:50Now, worth looking at the snow that's going to be accumulating as we go through Wednesday into Thursday.
03:55With the showers coming down from the north, no wonder, yes, across the northern half of Scotland, plenty of winteriness here.
04:02So we're looking at some snow building up around 15, 20 centimetres perhaps over the highest ground.
04:08But also down the eastern side of northern England, some significant snow showers likely to build up over the North York Moors, for example.
04:15We could see some similarly high snow totals.
04:18So that could cause some disruption.
04:21But if we look ahead to Friday and after a particularly chilly night Thursday night into Friday, it's worth bearing in mind there's a frontal system coming in from the west.
04:31And that is going to bring some wet weather.
04:33There's also milder air coming in behind it as well.
04:36What that means then, yes, Friday gets off to a particularly cold start.
04:40Widespread harsh frost.
04:41There will be some frost other times through this week with temperatures in rural spots plunging into negative double figures, particularly across parts of Scotland.
04:50But I think perhaps Thursday night into Friday looks like it will be the coldest one for many through this week.
04:56But temperatures starting to rise from the west as this rain band pushes its way through.
05:02Nonetheless, yes, a cold, frosty start, but a bright one for many of us on Friday.
05:05However, in the west, turning cloudy, turning blustery and rain sweeping its way in initially across Northern Ireland.
05:12But some of that rain feeding into western parts of Scotland, Wales and England as well, staying dry and brighter towards the east for that little bit longer.
05:20But the rain will push through here later on.
05:23Temperatures again on the low side, particularly towards the east.
05:25But as I mentioned, there is something a little bit milder coming in from the west.
05:29So as we go through later Friday, more so overnight Friday into Saturday, we're likely to see that rain pushing through.
05:35There may be something wintry as it hits against the cold air that will be across us, but not a huge amount compared to what we'll have seen earlier on in the week.
05:43And then as that rain pushes its way eastwards, there is more unsettled weather to come in from the west.
05:48So it does look like there will be further rain at times for many of us as we go through this weekend.
05:54As I mentioned, though, there's also slightly milder air coming in.
05:57So temperatures are going to be rising too.
06:00Now, before I go, I did just want to highlight the number of warnings that we have out at the moment.
06:04There are a fair few of them at the time of recording.
06:06This is what we have, a yellow ice warning across parts of northern and eastern Scotland as we go overnight Monday and into Tuesday.
06:12Again, an ice warning across southern parts of Scotland through Tuesday morning as well.
06:17Watch out for some slippery conditions.
06:19Could be difficult driving weather out there with the risk of those icy stretches.
06:23Then in terms of snow warnings, there's one across much of northern Scotland on Tuesday,
06:29and that talks of the potential for 5 to 10 centimetres above 400 metres or so.
06:34And then through the end of Tuesday, Wednesday and into Thursday, with those snow showers coming down from the north,
06:41the northern half of Scotland has a snow and ice warning, which covers for the potential for 15 to 20 centimetres above 300 metres.
06:48And it's a similar story for those parts of northeast England where we see those showers coming through.
06:54Again, we could have some impacts from the wintry weather.
06:57Those warnings are likely to be updated as we get nearer the time, and so do stay on top of those.
07:02And for more information about the cold, the wintry weather, well, why don't you check out the deep dive,
07:06which Aidan will be bringing to you on Tuesday.
Be the first to comment