Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 21st December 2017
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Dry in much of western Europe, some patchy rain north and east


Thursday
A strong area of high pressure will be centred around Biscay, bringing settled weather to France and Spain. Pleasantly warm again for Portugal. A few showers for the western Mediterranean. Dry and bright for northern Italy and the western Alps. Windy for southern Italy and the central Med. A risk of heavy rain for southern Greece , with snow over the mountains. Generally dry for the Balkans and area toward the Black Sea.
A front spreads from the north-west across north & central Europe, bringing rain and blustery winds to Germany, preceded by snow for Poland and the Baltic states. Some snow and rain reaching Austria and the Czech Republic. Patchy rain for Belgium and the Netherlands. Dry for Sweden and Denmark. Snow showers for west & northern Norway.

Friday
Fair and dry across Spain and Portugal with good spells of sunshine here. A risk of a few showers in the Balearics, Corsica and Sardinia. Greece and Turkey will have some cloud and rain in the south where it is likely to be breezy too.
France will have some patchy rain and a fair amount of cloud although many areas dry. The Low Countries and Germany will be dry overall although rather dull. Some cloud and outbreaks of raina cross Austria, Hungary and Austria.
Windy with drier weather for Denmark. Breezy with some showers in the Baltic States whilst Finland should be dry. Sweden will be breezy and mostly dry with sunny spells. Cloud, rain and stronger winds across western parts of Norway.