Another very cold start this morning, and even some light snow falling in places. Sunny spells and a few showers continue today. Next week, the north and west start to see some more active weather arrive.
It has been a particularly cold start to the day across the UK, but especially across more central and southern areas of England. A minimum temperature of -8C has been recorded at Farnborough, whilst -7C has been observed at a number of locations including; Benson, London Oxford Airport, Northolt and London Southend Airport. Many areas are starting the day cold or very cold with a fairly widespread frost along with some localised icy patches too. Whilst many areas are dry as well there is some patchy light rain, sleet and snow in places too, especially in parts of S Scotland and also across Wales and into the W Midlands. So, for some areas through the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon light snow flurries are possible, but not amounting too much. Our precipitation type radar highlights those areas seeing some light rain, sleet and snow recently.
Check the latest live radar here.
Through the rest of Sunday and high pressure will, overall, remain the dominant feature of the weather so many areas of the UK will have a dry day with some bright or sunny spells. Most of the sunshine through the day will be across more southern and south-eastern areas of England where prolonged spells of winter sunshine is to be expected. For the rest of the UK, though regions of cloud will come and go and, at times, this will lead to quite grey and overcast conditions, and it is across parts of Scotland and N England that a particularly cold and grey day is expected. Some further patchy light rain, sleet and snow is possible in places too, again especially across parts of Wales, N England and S Scotland, but this really will be localised and, overall, many areas will be dry. Our high-resolution model though does highlight those areas at risk of seeing a little precipitation into the early afternoon.
As indicated it will be a cold day for much of the UK with temperatures certainly below average, where some sunshine does develop through the day then not feeling too bad given light winds as well. However, for those areas that hold on to quite grey and overcast conditions through most of the day then temperatures will struggle to rise a few degrees above freezing and across parts of Scotland and N England a particularly cold day is to be expected. Highest temperatures are likely across parts of Ireland and SW England where maximum temperatures up to 6C or 7C are likely. However, for the majority of the UK highs around 3C to 6C are expected, and note on the forecast graphic below parts of Scotland and N England will struggle to reach 1C or 2C this afternoon.
Into Sunday evening and overnight many areas will become dry as high pressure continues to dominate. Temperatures tonight will once again fall to or below freezing quite widely, but with areas of low cloud and fog developing tonight then this will bring some local and regional variations in temperatures. The lowest temperatures are likely across parts of Scotland and down into N England where cloud breaks are expected overnight, whilst some eastern areas of England may see some low minimum temperatures too. Fog is expected to be a problem, though, especially across inland areas of England and Wales and this is something to be aware when heading out of the door early on Monday morning with poor visibility and perhaps some travel disruption too. So, a wintry night ahead with frost and fog expected, with some local icy patches too and the forecast chart below highlights those areas likely to experience the lowest temperatures.
Looking ahead through the coming week and high pressure will continue to be a dominant feature of the weather across England and Wales. In what is turning into a particularly dry winter for many areas of the UK this will be reinforced this coming week, again especially across England and Wales, with very little in the way of precipitation expected. It will remain cold as well across England and Wales, this accentuated by more of a breeze, but Scotland, Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Wales and NW England will become milder, especially around Tuesday before somewhat colder air returns northwards again.
Emphasis is on most of the active weather being across Scotland and Ireland this week with some rain and strong winds developing here at times, but for England and Wales in particular then further dry and settled weather is expected with overnight frost and fog at times too. Our medium range weather model highlights this general north and west, south and east split across the UK well as high pressure persists just to the south and south-east of the UK.