Wind And Rain Return From The West

As far as the weather goes it is a weekend of two halves for much of Britain and Ireland as milder but wetter and windier weather affect many areas during today and tonight before giving way to brighter but colder conditions tomorrow with wintry showers. The changeable weather is all thanks to an area of low pressure sweeping across the country during the next 24 hours or so and the unsettled theme looks set to continue into next week with further active systems pushing in.

It will be a bright and frosty start to Saturday across central and eastern parts of England but cloud is already thickening from the west in advance of outbreaks of rain that are currently affecting most parts of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales along with western regions of England and much of Scotland where snow is falling quite widely over higher ground. The band of rain, with hill snow in the north, continues to push eastwards this morning and although northern parts of Britain will become brighter with a few showers by this afternoon, the rain further south will link back to another area of heavy rain moving into Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and southwest England later this afternoon as a developing low approaches from the west. It will be a milder day across most regions with maximums in the range of 7°C to 12°C, mildest in the southwest, although it won't feel all that mild in the rain, but for Scotland it will be colder with values held back in the low single figures.

A wet and windy evening and night follow for much of central and southern Britain and Ireland with that deepening low bringing the risk of gales for a time and perhaps some snow to southern Scotland. However for central and northern Scotland it will be cold with wintry showers around the coasts and by dawn tomorrow that clearer, colder weather will have extended to just about all areas. This sets us up for a cold and blustery Sunday with a mixture of sunny spells and sleet or snow showers, the showers mainly in the north and west but they will be spreading further inland at times too.

METEOROLOGIST: BARBER