The Weather Outlook

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Arbroath 1320
31 January 2026 23:41:10
All much of the same it seems in the short term. There's a cold air incursion into Scotland on Tuesday. 

Beyond that, I wouldn't be confident on what happens next. Too many moving parts.


Kenmore, Highland Perthshire, GGTTH
CField
01 February 2026 05:44:52
GFS and GEM flip flopping again the role as the good guy, even with GFS the good stuff still post 240hrs.The models be better off doing tide tables for King Canute!
Favourite snowstorm

Famous channel low

Dec 31st 1978

Hastings East Sussex

Foot of level snow severe drifting

Next day max temp -4 degrees Celsius

Jiries
01 February 2026 06:03:39

GFS and GEM flip flopping again the role as the good guy, even with GFS the good stuff still post 240hrs.The models be better off doing tide tables for King Canute!

Originally Posted by: CField 

Have them all scraped and bring back past reliable forecasts like newspapers that they had good forecast for general situation and a week forecast all came off in a reality just odd little error but never failed to materialise on any weather pattern we had.  Still the same 100% unreliable 00z Nuneaton ensembles since early Jan showing wide scatter and nonsense day 10 fake cold members.  Frankly the models had gone severe worst and severe inaccuracy lately so need to be scaled back numerous amount of models available online including AI.

Ally Pally Snowman
01 February 2026 06:27:26
The longest run up to a cold spell in the history of TWO continues this morning. AIFS, GFS and ECM all have the cold spell now starting on the 11th February. 
Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
Retron
01 February 2026 06:30:11
This morning's ECM is a superb study in how to avoid getting snow in the far SE.

https://images.meteociel.fr/im/23/635/ecmwf_33_360ies2.png 

UserPostedImage


Leysdown, north Kent
chrisnoy
01 February 2026 06:32:07

The longest run up to a cold spell in the history of TWO continues this morning. AIFS, GFS and ECM all have the cold spell now starting on the 11th February. 

Originally Posted by: Ally Pally Snowman 

Strangely, that is 10 days away!!!

scillydave
01 February 2026 07:00:45

Strangely, that is 10 days away!!!

Originally Posted by: chrisnoy 

It's been the best winter 10 days into the future of my lifetime. 


Currently living at roughly 65m asl North of Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Formerly of, Birdlip, highest village in the Cotswolds and snow heaven in winter; Hawkinge in Kent - roof of the South downs and Isles of Scilly, paradise in the UK.

DEW
  • DEW
  • Advanced Member
01 February 2026 08:05:42
Yellow warning for rain for Cornwall - S Devon - Dorset overnight Mon/Tue

FAX - Atlantic Lp continues to push troughs and fronts into S England for the coming week. The main LP is positioned further south than has been the case, so the fronts make little progress N-wards, and an easterly develops for Scotland and N England.

GFS Op - as above but the E-lies don't last after next weekend, as the LP moves closer and sets up a closed circulation over Britain, centre 970mb Cornwall Mon 9th. As this LP moves SE-wards, it sets up a brief N-ly with cold air from Scandi; after a short break, the next Lp repeats this track (970mb Channel Sun 15th) and a more definite N-ly for the E coast before pressure rises weakly Tue 17th.

ECM - The main LP positions itself to the SW for a run of quite strong but not very cold SE-lies for the coming week for all, less of a push from the S, and then retreats to the Atlantic, so once again Britain has strong S-lies between LP to the west and HP to the east from Wed 11th 

AIFS - London, maxima 7-8C to Mon 10th then sllipping to 2C but at the same time drying up. Edinburgh, similar, but temp range from 5C down to 1C and a more consistently E/NE wind.

GFS - In the S, mean temp and ens support near norm until Tue 10th, then a big spread of ens members with op and control (in the minority) up to 10C below norm, persistent and often heavy rain (February fills the dyke ...) . In Scotland similar temp trend but the spread of ens members develops earlier, and much less rain (some heavier rain, likely snow, in the NE at first)


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

Chichester 12m asl

Brian Gaze
01 February 2026 08:46:58

This morning's ECM is a superb study in how to avoid getting snow in the far SE.

https://images.meteociel.fr/im/23/635/ecmwf_33_360ies2.png 

UserPostedImage

Originally Posted by: Retron 

Looks a bit different on the TWO plot.

UserPostedImage


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

Matty H
01 February 2026 09:20:14

It's been the best winter 10 days into the future of my lifetime. 

Originally Posted by: scillydave 

It was exactly the same last winter, and the one before. Ten days time was quoted weekly and often daily. 


Yate, Nr Bristol

TBFTEIARBSC

doctormog
01 February 2026 09:54:16
The consistency of the models for Tuesday showing snow here is very strong ( and continues on the 06z GFS op run). It will be interesting to see if they have overestimated the risk and it is yet more cold rain with hill snow. At two days out i would think it is in the reliable time frame.

Edit: Both the ICON and GFS 06z op runs are much cooler than the 00z equivalent by Thursday/Friday. Not widespread wintriness but quite a change in a relatively short time scale. It’s interesting to see the uncertainty even at that range.


jhall
01 February 2026 10:02:40
The 0Z GFS and ECM op runs are surprisingly similar even well into FI, but the ensembles are very different, with the ECM being far keener on bringing in cold.
Cranleigh, Surrey
Lumi
01 February 2026 10:16:55
Again today the 850s have bi-polar disorder. Does the warmer climate help dilute our air at lower and upper levels when there is an amount of Southerly air in the equation - is this air a little warmer than would have been historically. Or has it always been this way?
Thurlstone

South Yorkshire

230m AMSL

doctormog
01 February 2026 10:45:29

Again today the 850s have bi-polar disorder. Does the warmer climate help dilute our air at lower and upper levels when there is an amount of Southerly air in the equation - is this air a little warmer than would have been historically. Or has it always been this way?

Originally Posted by: Lumi 

If the air source is warmer it will “dilute” any cold that is here or any cold it interacts with. It won’t behave any differently to how it would have before it will just be a warmer airmass. If it were a colder airmass it would behave in exactly the same way as it did before, it’s just probably less likely to be a colder airmass.

The problem at the moment is the Atlantic is dominating our weather more than Scandinavia is, should that change then the cold would come in. Whether that happens is very much in the balance, and to be fair has been for the last couple of weeks,where the Atlantic influence generally won out. When it doesn’t you get outcomes more like this: https://www.wetterzentrale.de/maps/GFSOPEU06_240_1.png

 Will it look anything like that when the time comes? Now that’s a different question! It is definitely a possibility given the range of outcomes, but I don’t think it could be described as the probable outcome (yet) at this stage.


Hippydave
01 February 2026 10:46:33
Signs in the ens this morning and yesterday that the balance between northern blocking and the Atlantic is coming down more towards the Atlantic IMO. End result of that being lower chances of cold IMBY, still decent as you head further north but with  less confidence than had been the case. There's still a reasonable chance of colder air making it to MBY, just less than was being shown - hopefully a tweak back will happen over the next few runs but it would buck the recent trend. 

So broadly speaking, unsettled still in the short term, further mountain/hill snow for Scotland in particular, HP establishing over Greenland leading to colder air trying to push south whilst the Atlantic carries on pushing LPs our way. Dividing line between colder and milder air TBC but it wouldn't surprise me given last couple of runs if it ends up largely across the middle of the UK other than brief shots of colder air being pulled further south as LPs move through. 

Partly to annoy people for mentioning it again(🤡) and partly because it's interesting but the latest ECM zonal wind forecast now has a mean just above a reversal, continuing the downward trend. That's for mid Feb, so even if it ended up a reversal and that filtered down it probably wouldn't have an impact until early March but could lead to some fun looking charts. I guess given the weak northern blocking which looks likely to develop in the near term, a SSW could reshuffle the pieces to put us on the (even in MBY) milder side of things, so the fun charts could be mild/warm southerlies. Something to watch alongside how the current possibly colder shot develops anyway. 


Home: Tunbridge Wells

Work: Tonbridge

Brian Gaze
01 February 2026 11:09:06
The data tables are quite telling for the south. I've just posted them on The Signal here:

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/signal#rep346 


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

Ally Pally Snowman
01 February 2026 11:12:13
Another cold easterly on the GFS 6z . Starts 10th continues to 16th. 
Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
ballamar
01 February 2026 11:12:58
GFS 6z Op run will definitely keep the interest up especially for snow starved southerners! 
Hippydave
01 February 2026 11:25:24

The data tables are quite telling for the south. I've just posted them on The Signal here:

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/signal#rep346 

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

Nicely shows that even though it's less keen this morning, the ECM remains much more likely to bring at least a short shot of cold countrywide. 

Will be interesting to see where the GFS 6z op sits in the ens, I'd be surprised if it didn't have some company but given earlier sets I'd expect there to be more in the way of milder options down here. I'd be happy to be proved wrong on that though and the 6z op would also dry things up a touch, which would be welcome. 


Home: Tunbridge Wells

Work: Tonbridge

fairweather
01 February 2026 11:25:27
The ECM has become consistent with its trend for cold from around Feb 11th. The GFS is reluctantly showing support from quite a few members now. I am fully expecting this one to come off as we are going on a cruise from Portsmouth  to Lisbon to various Canary Islands and Madeira from Feb 18th till beginning of March. So I can safely predict snow drifts on the A3 down to Portsmouth, storms in the Bay of Biscay and the Azores high moving to Greenland. Plus I will miss the first deep snow in the S.E for years. 🙄😂
S.Essex, 42m ASL
doctormog
01 February 2026 11:30:06
The ECM 06z op run also looks chillier than the previous run (up to day 6 which is as far as the run goes). 
squish
01 February 2026 14:01:40
As are 06z JMA and NAVGEM runs
D.E.W on Dartmoor. 300m asl
Rob K
01 February 2026 15:24:35

Looks a bit different on the TWO plot.

UserPostedImage

Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 

That’s the snow depth plot though isn’t it? The other one was just “accumulated snowy precipitation”


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

squish
01 February 2026 16:05:42
12zs looking quite positive . UKMO looking better 
D.E.W on Dartmoor. 300m asl
Retron
01 February 2026 16:54:21
The 12z GFS continues with its theme of collapsing the block, and in doing so bringing a brief puff of cold air across the south. To my mind that looks a pretty reasonable outcome: the block will collapse sooner or later and at least that way there might be some snow down here, even if it's only brief. It beats the more traditional way of a ridge just building in from the west and bringing a warm-up without any transitional snow.


Leysdown, north Kent

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