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Wednesday begins windy and showery in much of the country. This morning it becomes drier in southern and central regions with sunny spells developing. Showers in the north and west continue and through the day they increasingly turn to snow.

Meteo France Arpege 00z, 31st Jan, precipitation, 15:00 GMT Wed 31st Jan

Temperatures range from 3C (37F) in Scotland to 8C (46F) in the south and strong winds will make it feel cold. See the rainfall radar for the latest view.

Tonight it remains very windy but showers retreat back to coastal counties. In sheltered areas a frost is likely.

Tomorrow the north and west have a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers. Central and eastern counties will be mostly dry and bright. It stays windy and chilly.

On Friday low pressure in the North Sea brings the risk of wintry showers into eastern Britain. Elsewhere it will be mostly dry but cloud thickens late in the day and wet weather spreads into Northern Ireland.

Overnight and through Saturday the rain spreads eastwards and it could turn to snow before it fades away, especially in the northern half of the UK. There is the potential for significant snowfall in the north but at this stage things are very uncertain.

Cold next week?

Mid term forecast confidence is low but during the last 24 hours computer models have trended back towards a more blocked and wintry outlook. Quite a few model runs show very cold air from the continent pushing into the south and east for a time during the first half of next week. Beyond that more of an Atlantic influence returns but the general theme is a cold one for much of the first half of February and there is a moderate risk of disruptive snowfalls. 

The forecast chart for Tuesday shows very cold air pushing in from the east and northwest. The blue shading indicates air temperatures at 1500m above sea level to be -10C or below.  

GFS 00z, 31st January, pressure and 850hPa temperatures 06:00 GMT Tue 6th Feb

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16 day GEFS ensembles at a glance

Cold conditions are shown for much of the period. The risk of snow during the first half of February is quite high. View latest GEFS.