Issued: 0530hrs Saturday 17th March 2007
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Strong winds and heavy rain to the north, drier to the south

Today
A windy day through much of northern Europe. These unsettled conditions bringing heavy periods of rain through the northern British Isles and into the Low Countries. A further band of rain will be passing southwards through Germany and this is going to be heavy at times. More rain and showers across southern parts of Norway and Sweden where it is also going to be staying windy with a risk of winds to gale force.
It will be staying windy through the Baltic States and Finland too. More rain, sleet and snow showers here, with heavy snow through Finland. Brighter for Norway with a few showers on western coasts.
Through France the weather looks like staying dry and bright with some good spells of sunshine. This dry weather and sunny spells will be affecting Portugal and most of Spain. Into Italy the weather will be staying dry with more spells of sunshine, and these spreading through the former Yugoslavia. Fair conditions into Greece and Crete as well as Turkey.
It will be staying fair throughout Bulgaria and Romania with sunny spells and will be feeling cooler here too.

Sunday
A large area of low pressure dominates the weather throughout northern Europe. A cold front will be sweeping Arctic air across the UK, Ireland and into northern France and northern Germany. It will be bringing with it sleet and snow showers, some of them heavy at times, with a risk of blizzards over higher ground. More persistent snow for the south of northern, with snow showers in the north. Gales are possible in the UK, Denmark and northern parts of Germany.
For northern parts of France and Germany as well as Poland there will b heavy spells of rain and strong winds. This will be moving southwards through the day, introducing the cooler air. Southern France and southern Germany should be dry and breezy for most of the day. Switzerland, Austria and Hungary will be dry with sunny spells, although tending to cloudy over later.
For most of Iberia the day is going to be colder. There will be some showers over the north of Spain and a risk again of a shower over eastern Spain later. Elsewhere it will be drier with sunny spells. For the Balearics and Italy it should be dry with sunny spells throughout the day. The sunshine also affecting the former Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey with more sunshine her.