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Issued: 1000 Monday 28th November 2005
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Wintry spells ahead?

As I sit in my office in South Staffordshire with the low winter sun glistening over more frost, my attention is drawn to the long range charts running into the middle of December. The GFS model has been surprisingly consistent for some time, and indeed it did accurately forecast the present cooler spell.

For a few days the model has been hinting at the cool weather continuing and becoming more unsettled. This is certainly a pattern picked up by our 30 day forecast. However, what is interesting this morning is that from around Tuesday 6th December, conditions could become significantly colder.

As well as the cold there is a risk of low pressure passing through, and if this happens there could be a period of snow for many parts of the UK and Ireland. It is hard at the moment to forecast when and where the worst of this will be.

I'll try to keep you updated over the coming days as the situation develops.

Whatever the weather, keep the sun shining!
Simon