Temperatures To Take A Tumble

It's time for a first brief taste of winter - we've been talking about it for the last week or so, and we're starting to see the first signs of the cold Arctic air seeping south into Scotland.

For the majority of us the change will mean a return of the sun after what has been a really dull few days, but the pay off for that sun will be temperatures falling away to single figure highs by day and frosts by night. There will be some showers about, wintry in the north and east, with some accumulations of snow possible on the higher ground of north and east Scotland, along with other prone spots in the north of the country, such as the North York moors.

Today though, we're still under mainly cloudy skies, although with the slightly stiffer breeze that has picked up it should at least clear much of the mist and fog away, even allowing some brighter spells to develop here and there. A band of showery rain will be working it's way down through Scotland - heaviest in eastern and central regions, clearing Scotland during the evening and slowly fizzling out as it moves down the eastern side of England.

There will also be some drizzly bits of rain across England and Wales, along with further showers working their way into eastern Scotland and eastern England from around Yorkshire northwards during the second part of the day. It's these showers which will start to turn wintry over the hills and mountains of Scotland during the afternoon and into the evening - particularly from around 200-300m up. Temperatures today will peak fairly early at 13-15c in the south, 10-12c in northern England and cooler still in Scotland.

Overnight a widespread frost is likely from the midlands northward, with a sharp air frost in Scotland as temperatures fall a few degrees below freezing. The showers keep coming into eastern regions of Scotland and northern England too, falling as sleet and snow even at lower levels in northeast Scotland.

That theme continues into tomorrow, with the showers becoming more organised for a time - wintry over the hills of both eastern Scotland and northeastern England - with accumulations of 5cm or so possible in prone spots above 200m. Elsewhere, there will be some showers around - particularly in the east but also some sunnier skies with temperatures in single figures just about everywhere.

The weekend will start on a cold, frosty note with just a few showers in the east, which will still be wintry in the north. Most parts will stay dry and bright or sunny all day, but rain will be approaching from the northwest and will move into Scotland from late morning onward, initially falling as snow over the high ground, that will slowly head southeast through into Sunday with another batch following behind it.

Michael Fish will be online later with his weekly forecast, including the full details on this weekend and beyond.

Published on 25th October 2012 09:52 Updated: 25th October 2012 09:52