The Weather Outlook

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fairweather
14 January 2026 22:12:28

Thursday looking a little stormy for southern/S Eastern areas on the ECM which the deep dive went with over their own model.

Almost the same path as 87

Originally Posted by: warrenb 

That's a 24 hr forecast that has been ditched now according to the BBC this evening. What chance for a prediction of an Easterly in 10 days. Not much based on that!


S.Essex, 42m ASL
Matty H
14 January 2026 22:46:25

May I ask what a 'Kennedy cold spell' is, Brain? It's up there with Beast's 'Murr sausage' in terms of mysterious meanings. 

Originally Posted by: Chunky Pea 

It’s a genuine thing rather than a slightly more literate Gary Sarre ramper’s rubbish


Yate, Nr Bristol

TBFTEIARBSC

Rob K
14 January 2026 22:47:38
18Z GFS less convinced by the easterly although looks like it might limp over the line in the end…

Edit: it does, kind of, although the Azores limpet stops a clean flow. 


Yateley, NE Hampshire, 73m asl

"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." — Jerome K. Jerome

The Beast from the East
15 January 2026 02:18:19
As Ian Brown used to say "The train is coming only when you can see the train".  

At the moment the train is stuck in Berlin.  Getting an easterly to reach the UK always requires every piece of the puzzle to fall into place and a heavy dose of luck.  Rare as hen's teeth for a reason


Purley, Surrey, 70m ASL

"We have some alternative facts for you"

Kelly-Ann Conway - former special adviser to the President

doctormog
15 January 2026 06:58:05
The colder weather from the east , if it is to arrive, looks most likely in the final week of January (post 25th), barring the random op run this has been the case for a while now and with reasonable support in the ensemble data. 

Will it happen? Who knows, as easterlies are fickle things. The prospect of days of drizzly doesn’t excite me much either.


Brian Gaze
15 January 2026 07:21:09
Could just be noise, but there are more rain spikes between 23 - 28 January. Perhaps slow moving areas of low pressure pushing a tad farther east. To me it still seems that the last week of January and the first half of February is the period to watch for cold. 

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Brian Gaze

Berkhamsted

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"I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money." - Gary Numan

Retron
15 January 2026 07:23:43

Will it happen? Who knows, as easterlies are fickle things. The prospect of days of drizzly doesn’t excite me much either.

Originally Posted by: doctormog 

Well, we had the drizzly rain while you were having your fun earlier - it's our turn now! 😁

The number of deep cold (i.e. -10) 850 runs has gradually been decreasing on GEFS, being maybe a 1 in 4 chance now rather than a 1 in 3. An easterly of some sort still looks reasonable, but the "jackpot" of an 80s style one? I still won't be getting my hopes up any time soon. Incidentally the ECM and GFS "AI" models both show a snowy easterly of the classic style, I suspect pattern-matching 2005's synoptics. 

It continues to be a fascinating period of model-watching, even if in the short term it's unexciting.

EDIT: The ECM-46 has been firming up on an end-of-month cold spell too, and as it picked out the recent spell in advance of anything else - it's worth paying attention to. The cold lingers into the following week, too, and the anomalies suggest an easterly of sorts.

https://charts.ecmwf.int/products/extended-anomaly-2t?base_time=202601140000&projection=opencharts_europe&valid_time=202602020000 


Leysdown, north Kent
Ally Pally Snowman
15 January 2026 07:31:55
AIFS  0z is another beauty.  ECM 0z  gets there in the end.  
Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
Rob K
15 January 2026 07:34:04

AIFS  0z is another beauty.  ECM 0z  gets there in the end.  

Originally Posted by: Ally Pally Snowman 

ECM certainly does - it takes its time but is a beauty when it arrives. 

GFS is less good, it briefly arrives and then collapses south, but there are a couple of runs that bring prolonged very cold conditions, P5 being the pick. 


Yateley, NE Hampshire, 73m asl

"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." — Jerome K. Jerome

Lumi
15 January 2026 09:04:31
So not much difference this on this mornings output. The easterly is still within a decent probability. Lots of patience will be needed watching this develop. Will the outcome, I would like to see, appear in a more reliable time frame or perhaps be pushed back even further or even worse disappear from the output. All seem possible right now?
Thurlstone

South Yorkshire

230m AMSL

DEW
  • DEW
  • Advanced Member
15 January 2026 09:08:46
Latest from the charts on the battle between the Atlantic and the Continent:

FAX - starts with LP 980mb mid Atlantic driving fronts across Britain on a SW-ly, with waves in the fronts augmenting the rainfall. This collapses into a general area of LP over Britain (on Friday there are no less than five separate LP centres between N Norway and S Britain). By Monday there are still stagnant fronts N-S over Britain as the HP 1043mb Russia begins to promote E/SE influence.

GFS Op - As above; then the HP begins to move N and by Thu 22nd is 1045mb just E of Finland, ridging to N Britain, with E-lies trying to get established. These fail as a deep LP approaches NW Britain Mon 26th with strong S-lies sandwiched between LP to the W and HP to the E. The Lp manages to push its way past N Norway and the HP drops S-wards to become centred 1040mb English Channel Thu 29th. By Sat 31st the LP is in control 975mb N Norway and threatening Britain with N-lies.

ECM - the 'sandwich' appears a day earlier but then a piece of the LP breaks off and heads to Biscay Wed 28th while the main LP retreats to Greenland. This opens the way for a proper E-ly with an embedded cold pool crossing S Britain Thu 29th though with HP moving from Scandi to Iceland, winds go round to N-ly.

AIFS - London maxima 10C now dropping to ice days from Sat 24th, only just above even by Thu 29th, and winds gong round NE-ly. Rain now, mostly dry later. Edinburgh, maxima staying at 5C to the 24th then about 2C with rain/snow.

GEFS - mean temp near norm to the 24th then a little below, being dragged down by several rather cold ens members though most stay with the mean, rain now in the S, many but not all ens members wet (esp in W) after the 24th. Significant chance of snow in Scotland later on.

The 24th appears to be a tipping point between GFS and ECM


War is God's way of teaching Americans geography - Ambrose Bierce

Chichester 12m asl

DPower
15 January 2026 09:53:57
Models appear to my eyes anyway to be honing in on a Scandinavian airflow ( continental ) from about 8 days time. How potent is hard to guess at this range although I would hazard a guess of very cold and becoming progressively colder.
Rob K
15 January 2026 11:05:24
GFS fails to set up an easterly this time - that's two op runs in a row that sink the block. If we don't see an improvement on the 12Zs then I think the "Winter Optimism Index" will be heading into negative territory!
Yateley, NE Hampshire, 73m asl

"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." — Jerome K. Jerome

idj20
15 January 2026 11:09:29
Looking like a stand-off type set up with European high holding firm to east and Atlantic lows trying to push in, so as a result the UK sits under a southerly airflow for the most part. With that to mind, it is then a case of hoping that southerly flow end up being of the slack type giving us some clear continental air and not consistently strong and laden with moisture (like what is happening right now).  
Home location: Folkestone Harbour.
TheJudge
15 January 2026 11:17:48
Does the iPhone weather app use the ECM? 
Barby 551 ft above sea level
Brian Gaze
15 January 2026 11:24:17

Does the iPhone weather app use the ECM? 

Originally Posted by: TheJudge 

I don't think so. However, TWO forecasts now give you the option to switch to ECMWF. Just scroll down and you'll see the button below the forecast panel. They're currently using today's 00Z run. 


Brian Gaze

Berkhamsted

TWO Buzz - get the latest news and views 

"I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money." - Gary Numan

Arbroath 1320
15 January 2026 11:42:11

GFS fails to set up an easterly this time - that's two op runs in a row that sink the block. If we don't see an improvement on the 12Zs then I think the "Winter Optimism Index" will be heading into negative territory!

Originally Posted by: Rob K 

The interesting thing is that the GFS 00z and 06z sink the block in completely different ways, so there is little consistency between runs on the face of it. Pressure over Greenland differs by about 30mb between the 2 runs on the morning of the 22/1; the 06z run keeps heights at 1030mb, but develops a low pressure system to the North of Svalbard which sinks the block, whereas it's Atlantic incursion which eventually sinks the block on the 00z.

Still some extremely cold easterly incursions in the 6z ENS though.

Lots of volatility and I think we're still a good few days away from knowing which way this is going to go.


Kenmore, Highland Perthshire, GGTTH
Ally Pally Snowman
15 January 2026 11:49:43
Another stunning AIFS. AI models leading the way 😁
Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
Rob K
15 January 2026 12:10:21

Does the iPhone weather app use the ECM? 

Originally Posted by: TheJudge 

No it uses the IBM model (or at least did last I checked). I have noticed it has trended much milder for the coming 10 days over the last 48 hours or so - it was showing a max of 3C for next Wednesday, with a steady decline in temps up to that point, but now shows a flatlined 8-9C for the next 10 days.


Yateley, NE Hampshire, 73m asl

"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." — Jerome K. Jerome

Ally Pally Snowman
15 January 2026 12:16:24
Latest AIFS 6z in all it's glory. Looks v snowy!

https://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/topkarten.php?map=1&model=aifs&var=1&run=6&time=276&lid=OP&h=0&mv=0&tr=6#mapref 


Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
Quantum
15 January 2026 12:20:52
The track of that svalbard bubble does seem to be really important, and the models still can't agree on where it ends up.

The latest GFS is disappointing because it follows a solution that has been thrown around in recent days of it sinking towards Ukraine rather than sticking around over Scandi. The result is the high builds further east and south and the cutoff is trapped over Russia. Some of these runs still end up cold as further WAA repeats the cycle later down the line.

Still, the exact track of the bubble is not known yet. The 6Z GFS is only one possibility of an array that have been floated just today, and the GFS is almost an outlier in terms of taking it so far south and east. As I say, part of the problem is that the arctic is abysmally modelled, and key tracks of a bubble of warm air (even in the more reliable upper trop) are not resolved until quite a low lead time.


25/26 (850hpa temp) 11 days snow/sleet falling

18/11 (-4) 19/11 (-6) 20/11 (-6) 01/01 (-7) 04/01 (-10) 10/01 (-7) 11/01 (-3) 30/01 (-1) 13/02 (-6) 15/02 (-4) 18/02 (-6)

24/25 10d

18/11 (-6) 19/11 (-6) 23/11 (-2) 22/12 (-5) 04/01 (-5) 05/01 (0)14/02 (0) 15/02 (0)12/03 (-6) 13/03 (-6)

23/24 8d

29/11 (-6) 30/11 (-6) 02/12 (-5) 03/12 (-5) 04/12 (-3) 16/01 (-3) 18/01 (-8)08/02 (-5)

22/23 7d

18/12 (-1)06/03 (-6) 08/03 (-8) 09/03 (-6) 10/03 (-8) 11/03 (-5) 14/03 (-6)

21/22 12d

Ally Pally Snowman
15 January 2026 12:22:00
Yes fairly snowy 🌨 😄 

https://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/ecmwf_aifs.php?&ech=360&mode=45&carte=6&aifs=2 


Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
CField
15 January 2026 12:22:41

Latest AIFS 6z in all it's glory. Looks v snowy!

https://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/topkarten.php?map=1&model=aifs&var=1&run=6&time=276&lid=OP&h=0&mv=0&tr=6#mapref 

Originally Posted by: Ally Pally Snowman 

But heavy snow turns to heavy rain for the SE post 324hrs as a bit milder air gets in the mix


Favourite snowstorm

Famous channel low

Dec 31st 1978

Hastings East Sussex

Foot of level snow severe drifting

Next day max temp -4 degrees Celsius

Ally Pally Snowman
15 January 2026 12:24:17

But heavy snow turns to heavy rain for the SE post 324hrs as a bit milder air gets in the mix

Originally Posted by: CField 

Then back to heavy snow again. 


Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
Quantum
15 January 2026 12:25:24
The ECM6Z has the warm bubble further NE than the GFS.

https://modeles3.meteociel.fr/modeles/ecmwf2/runs/2026011506/ecmwfnh-13-144.png?6 

Even at 144h this affects the cold core cutoff which is already further west, you can see it centered over western Russia and pushing as far west as the Baltics 


25/26 (850hpa temp) 11 days snow/sleet falling

18/11 (-4) 19/11 (-6) 20/11 (-6) 01/01 (-7) 04/01 (-10) 10/01 (-7) 11/01 (-3) 30/01 (-1) 13/02 (-6) 15/02 (-4) 18/02 (-6)

24/25 10d

18/11 (-6) 19/11 (-6) 23/11 (-2) 22/12 (-5) 04/01 (-5) 05/01 (0)14/02 (0) 15/02 (0)12/03 (-6) 13/03 (-6)

23/24 8d

29/11 (-6) 30/11 (-6) 02/12 (-5) 03/12 (-5) 04/12 (-3) 16/01 (-3) 18/01 (-8)08/02 (-5)

22/23 7d

18/12 (-1)06/03 (-6) 08/03 (-8) 09/03 (-6) 10/03 (-8) 11/03 (-5) 14/03 (-6)

21/22 12d

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