Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 23rd December 2010
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling
heavy rain in Italy, cold for much of Europe but warm to the southeast
Thursday
Cold air plunging through Iberia today. This takes an area of cloud and rain southwards through Spain, mostly to the east. Brighter and colder weather follows, together with showers. Snow showers across France, some of them heavy and breezy here. More persistent and heavy snow for southern and eastern parts of France. Windy across the Low Countries and Germany and very cold here with a few snow showers. Cloud and snow affecting Poland, with rain through Hungary and heavy snow affecting Austria and Switzerland.
Italy will have an unsettled day with cloud and some heavy periods of rain across northern and western parts of the country. To the south it is drier with some sunny spells. Greece and Turkey will have lots of sunshine and very warm weather. Misty and murky through Bulgaria and Romania but mild here as well.
The Baltic States stay cold and breezy through the day. Very cold but dry across Finland. Cold and windy for Sweden and bitterly cold in the north. Staying very cold across Denmark and Norway with south snow to the southwest.
Christmas Eve
A fair day again across Spain and Portugal. There will be some good spells of sunshine, and it is going to be feeling chilly too. Very cold across France and breezy here with some cloud and sleet or snow in the east. A few outbreaks of snow for the Low Countries and northern Germany as well as Poland. More persistent snow across Hungary, Austria and Switzerland, this possibly heavy at times.
Low pressure over Italy is going to be bringing an unsettled day here with cloud and longer spells of rain, sleet and snow. The heaviest of this across northern parts of Italy, although all areas are likely to be seeing some rain. A warm day for Greece with sunny spells. More sunshine to come across Greece and staying warm here too. Bulgaria and Romania will be warm too and are likely to be dry with some sunny spells.
To the north it is going to be cold and windy across the Baltic States. Staying cold through Finland and dry here too. Breezy and bitterly cold for the far south of Sweden with the chance of some snow flurries here. Cold to the north of Sweden and staying very cold across Norway. Windy through Denmark and very cold here too with some snow flurries to the south.