Wednesday 10/12/03 to Thursday 11/12/03
Mist and fog will be slow to clear across central and eastern England during Wednesday morning. Sunny spells will develop however, and it should stay dry into the afternoon. Scotland and Northern Ireland will have rain at first, this spreading southwards to reach much of northern England and north Wales in the afternoon. Ireland will stay rather cloudy, with heavy rain towards evening. Strong winds in the north, lighter elsewhere. Overnight, rain will become heavier and more persistent across much of England and Wales, clearing from Scotland and much of Ireland with a frost developing there. Rain will affect much of central and eastern England on Thursday, gradually becoming condinfed to the far south-east in the afternoon. Elsewhere, a much brighter day with sunny spells, but feeling much colder across many parts. Scattered showers will affect northern Scotland, wintry with snow at times in fresh northerly winds.

Friday 12/12/03 to Saturday 13/12/03
Friday will once again become unsettled, with outbreaks of rain, heavy at times spreading across much of Ireland and Northern Ireland during the morning. This will cross Scotland, preceded by snow over the hills, and much of England and Wales during the afternoon. Eastern England should remain dry until evening, with a frost here at first. Winds will become strong, with westerly gales developing in the north. Overnight, winds will continue to freshen everywhere with further rain in places. On Saturday, another band of quite heavy rain will sweep eastwards across all parts, clearing the east coast by late afternoon. Behind this, winds will continue to reach gale force in the north, with a mixture of sunny spells and showers. The heaviest, most frequent showers will always be in western parts, with the best of any sunny spells in central and eastern regions.

Sunday 14/12/03 to Tuesday 16/12/03
On Sunday, strong winds will turn more northerly, with showers across Scotland turning wintry once again. Elsewhere however, winds will ease later with sunny spells developing. Overnight, a frost will develop widely under clearing skies, but showers will continue in the north. Monday will be mostly dry and bright for England and Wales, once early fog clears. Scotland will have a few showers at first, and during the afternoon Ireland and Northern Ireland will cloud over with rain by evening. This rain will sweep across the rest of the country during Tuesday, most light and patchy in the south but with some heavier bursts further north. The winds will become strong once again, but from a milder south-westerly direction. More detail on next week's weather in the next forecast update.