Martin Stew's weather blog for Thursday 21 March

Yesterday may have been the start of spring but the next few days are going to feel decidedly wintry.

There’s a double whammy of weather on its way. On one side: there’s a heavy band of rain moving up from the south west.

On the other: bitterly cold air heading in from the East. Where the two meet there is going to be heavy snowfall (though not much within the M25).

It is still going to be unpleasant in the London region but most of us will fare far better than the rest of the UK.

The Met Office has issued a wet weather warning in the South West and a snow and ice warning for the Midlands and the North.

In the London area the bad weather starts tonight. The band of rain coming up from South West will give us a very wet and windy night.

Things will dry up tomorrow morning as the rain pushes north only for another band of rain to come in during the afternoon.

To the north of London there will be the chance of wintry showers as the rain meets snow coming down from the Midlands.

For all of us it’s going to be cold. A strong chilly easterly wind will make afternoon temperatures of 4 degree feel more like -2.

Sadly the weekend isn’t looking too much better. Saturday will be similar to Friday - wet and windy with the chance of more wintry flurries.

Sunday looks drier but still blanket cloud, strong winds and cold air temperatures.

So far March has been colder than December and January and very dull too.

Just in case you’re not depressed enough, the 15 day forecast is staying chilly. Please don’t shoot the messenger!

See you later,

Martin