Issued: 0530hrs Tuesday 20th February 2007
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Rain in west, becoming much colder in the north

Today
A band of rain extending through the eastern UK, through western France and into central and eastern parts of Spain. Most of the rain looks like being generally light, but some heavier bursts are likely as well. Showers for western and northern parts of Portugal.
Central and eastern France, Switzerland and Germany as well as the Low Countries all look dry with sunny spells and will be rather mild too. The dry weather also extends into the northern and central parts of Italy. For southern Italy there will be showers and some of these are going to be heavy. The showers affecting western parts of Greece.
More eastern parts of Greece should be dry with sunny spells. More sunshine through Turkey and dry here too. The dry weather also for much of Bulgaria, Romania, Austria and Hungary.
Higher pressure to the north and very cold across Scandinavia, with strong winds coming through northern Finland and into Sweden and eastern Norway. There could be a few showers around the Baltic States, but it should be largely dry. Dry too in Poland and much of eastern Europe.

Wednesday
The band of rain continues through eastern England on Wednesday. This band of rain heads south into France too, although it is going to be weakening all the time. More cloud and some patchy rain in the east of Spain. Portugal and much of the rest of Spain should be dry with sunny spells.
Eastern France will be dry with broken cloud and some bright spells. Dry for most of the low countries, although the Netherlands could see some patchy rain. Dry for Germany and Switzerland as well as most of Italy.
Across Hungary, Austria and Bratislava it will be staying dry with sunny periods. More dry weather into Poland, Belarus and the Ukraine, although a plunge of freezing air spreading into much of eastern Europe. This dry weather extending through Bulgaria and Romania with more sunshine here. The cold air is due to cold air dominating across Scandinavia, bringing more dry weather to Norway, Sweden and Finland although increasingly cold here with temperatures well below freezing.
Back to the eastern Mediterranean and showers in Greece are likely to be fading away, with Turkey staying dry throughout.