Icy conditions for many, very cold for some tonight
An area of rain, sleet, snow and freezing rain has spread south overnight, and is currently continuing to make slow progress southwards across west Wales and south-west England, mostly falling as rain in those areas but with light snow across parts of east Wales, the west Midlands and to the east of Devon. During the rest of today this area of precipitation will slowly retreat south-westwards from Wales and south-west England, but light rain and drizzle will continue in Northern Ireland, western Scotland and parts of north-west England during the day. Across the east of both Scotland and England it will be a dry cloudy day for most, but the cloud sheet will tend to break up as the day progresses allowing some sunny intervals through, particularly for central and eastern parts of England. It will be another cold day across much of England, Wales and Scotland with maximum temperatures between 1 and 4C, though parts of western and northern Scotland may reach 4 to 6C. The milder air will continue to hold on across Ireland with highs near 10C.Tonight temperatures will drop markedly underneath any holes in the cloud sheet across England, as winds remain light and continental air remains close by- following last night’s wintry mix of precipitation this will lead to icy conditions for many. Minimum temperatures of -5 to -10C will be widespread. Across Scotland, Wales, north-west England and south-west England, under cloudier skies, temperatures will hold up close to or just above freezing for most, and it will remain much milder over Ireland.

Saturday will be even colder than today across central and southern parts of England, where temperatures will struggle to reach freezing. It will be dry with some hazy sunshine for most of central and southern England, though freezing fog patches will persist in some places. In Scotland it will be cloudier and milder, with a band of patchy light rain and drizzle (mostly in the west) heading slowly southwards during the day, eventually reaching northern parts of England- here temperatures will lift to around 6C during the afternoon. Ireland, again, will be rather wet and somewhat milder with highs around 10C.

The weather will generally turn milder from the north-west during Sunday and Monday as high pressure sets up to the west of the country allowing milder Atlantic air around the periphery of the high. It will also be cloudy for most, with just a scattering of brighter intervals. By Monday most of Britain will be seeing highs of 7C and above.

We are also watching a possible northerly outbreak during the middle part of next week which could bring a return to wintry conditions, although there remains a significant chance of the main thrust of Arctic air heading out into the North Sea rather than hitting the British Isles full-on.

Issued: Fri 10/02 09:55