Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 1st February 2007
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Rain and snow for eastern countries, but drier to the west

Today
A welcome dry day through Portugal and Spain with sunny spells. The mainly dry weather extends into France, although there may be some morning mist and fog patches, together with a few spots of drizzle. Most of Italy should have a dry day, although a few showers could occur through Sicily and southwest Italy. mainly dry across the former Yugoslavia. Greece and chilly will be chilly although mainly dry apart from some showers in the far west of Turkey.
To the north most of the UK should be dry, and this dry weather extends into the Low Countries and Germany too, although there could be some morning fog.
Showers affecting parts of Denmark with further rain on the western coasts of Norway, some of it heavy. Sweden will be generally dry, with the dry weather spilling over into Finland and the Baltic States.
For eastern Europe low pressure will be bringing rain, sleet and snow. This will be mainly affect the Ukraine, Belarus, Romania and Hungary. Windy in these places too.

Friday
A threat of some spots of drizzle or rain across northern and France together with the north of Spain through Friday. There could be an odd shower on the eastern coasts of Spain too, but to the south and west it should be drier. Most of the rest of France will be dry, although there will always be a fair amount of cloud away from southern coasts. A dry day too for Italy, although with more showers in Sicily. Greece should stay largely dry with sunny spells whilst Turkey sees an increased threat of wintry showers.
Much of central Europe including Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, Czech republic, Bratislava, Austria and southern Poland should be dry with variable cloud.
Heavy, wintry showers for the west of Norway where it is also going to be breezy. Some of the showers will cross the mountains into Sweden, mainly affecting the north. An area of light snow for much of Finland, the Baltic States and northern Poland, this pushing into western Russia later in the day.