Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 22nd February 2007
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Very cold in the east with snow and frost. Milder west.

Today
It's an unsettled and damp day to come through much of Iberia, Spain and the UK and Ireland. There will be a front stretching north to south and it will be this that brings that rain. Most of the rain will be through the eastern UK and through the central and western parts of France. There could also be a fair fall over northwestern Spain.
For more eastern parts of France, Germany, the Low Countriesand into Switzerland and northern Italy the day is probably going to be dry. Ity will be rather mild here as well with some reasonable spells of sunshine.
For central and southern Italy it will be more unsettled with a risk of showers. The showers could be heavy and will be affecting the former Yugoslavia and the west of Greece; a few of the showers could be heavy. For eastern parts of Greece and the whole of Turkey it should be a dry day with some good spells of sunshine.
Back north and Scandinavia together with eastern Europe are going to remain very cold. High pressure is keeping temperatures well below freezing. Much of Scandinavia is dry. However, there is a battle zone betwen the milder air to the west, and colder air to the east extending through Poland and the western Ukraine bringing heavy snow.

Friday
More unsetttled weather across the western half of the Continent on Friday. There will be bursts of rain for much of Ireland, France and northern Spain, some of them heavy at times. The far south of Spain and Portugal should be dry with some sunny spells coming through as high pressure builds. The fair weather also affects the Balearics and the far south of France.
A few showers could affect southern parts of Italy again, although central and northern parts should be dry and sunny. The dry weather will also be in Switzerland and will again be affecting all but the far north of Germany. The former Yugoslavia should be dry with sunny spells, whilst heavy showers could trouble Greece. Those showers and rain also in northern Turkey, where they could be wintry, whilst the south of Turkey, Cyprus and Israel should be dry with sunshine.
The colder weather in eastern Europe will advance slightly further east. Temperatures will be well below freezing for most of western Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, eastern Austria and much of Scandinavia. Windy for the west of Norway with some heavy snow or rain here, this also troubling Denmark.