Issued: 0530hrs Thursday 3rd January 2019
Duty forecaster: Claire Darbinyan

The western Mediterranean will enjoy a dry and bright couple of days while across central Europe there will be a mixture of sunny spells and wintry showers which become increasingly wintry and more frequent towards northern and eastern parts of the continent


Thursday
Thursday sees the continuation of dry and fine weather for the Iberian peninsula. Becoming a little overcast though for the Balearics, Corsica and Sardinia though where some showers could develop later in the afternoon. Rain and snow showers are expected to continue over southern and central parts of Italy while a new low pressure system will bring strong winds, heavy downpours, snow and, perhaps, some thunderstorms to Greece and Turkey.
France will be largely bright and dry on Thursday though ot may stay overcast along the Channel coast. Overcast but dry too for the Low Countries. Germany sees a mixture of cloudy skies and sunny spells with some snow showers possible in the south and east. It will be dry and bright in Switzerland while Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic could see some prolonged falls of snow and high winds.
Denmark will have a bright start to the day but it will cloud over later. Staying dry though. Southern Finland and the Baltic States will have high winds and some heavy spells of snowfall on Thursday. It will be a quiet start to the day for Sweden and Norway but winds will strengthen again through the morning and into the afternoon accompanied by some heavy wintry showers.

Friday
Friday sees the continuation of dry and fine weather for the Iberian peninsula. Becoming cloudy though for the Balearics where Majorca and Menorca could see some rain. A chance of rain in the morning for Corsica and Sardinia too. Rain and snow showers are expected to continue over southern and central parts of Italy while low pressure will continue to bring strong winds, heavy downpours, snow and, perhaps, some thunderstorms to Greece and Turkey.
France and the Low Countries will have a mixture of cloudy skies and sunny spells on Friday although it should stay dry. A band of snow followed by rain will impact southern and eastern parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland throughout the day. Dry and bright in Switzerland.
It will be an overcast day for Denmark with a chance of some showers while a band of snow and rain will impact the Baltic States. Wintry showers should clear Finland by the early afternoon leaving an overcast day. Sweden will see rain and wintry precipitation in the north but remain dry and dull in the south. Western coastal regions of Norway will see almost continuous wintry precipitation throughout the day but southeastern areas should remain dry and overcast.