Weekend Weather: Quiet Saturday, but blustery in the north by Sunday

There is a change on the way for the weekend. During the week high pressure has brought steady weather across the UK. There has often been a lot of cloud and where skies are clearer there has been sunshine by day but a real chill and frost by night. The winds have been light, even calm, apart from along the south coast of England at the edge of the high pressure. 

With high pressure over the UK, the jetstream has been rather disrupted but with deep cold over North America, the jet will become more powerful over the North Atlantic and edge further south. It will become increasingly windy in the north of the UK on Sunday.

For Thursday thicker cloud will continue to arrive off the North Sea and give a patchy precipitation. By the end of Friday, the flow will have veered to a west or northwesterly direction and skies will brighten where there has been a blanket of cloud. Frontal bands will arrive from the northwest but overall there will be a lot of dry, fair weather about. 

Exposed areas will see rain, the north coast of Northern Ireland, north and western coastal areas of Wales, Cumbria, Lancashire and western Scotland. The NW Highlands, the Scottish Islands and Argyll will have seen a good deal of rain by Sunday night and that feed of wet weather from the west will continue into Monday. Eastern and southern Britain will be dry.

Friday evening

A weakening cold front will move southwards on Friday night bringing bands of patchy rain. It will be a grey, damp and cold feeling evening but with light winds. Clearer skies will appear in the north with temperatures inland dipping below zero.  In that clearer airmass, there will be a few showers which will fall as snow over the Highlands with a risk of ice.

For those off Christmas shopping or heading to seasonal events, this weekend looks thankfully free of severe weather. We need a rest from storms but who knows what the crowds will be like. That leaves ten days until Christmas Day from Saturday, so get a move on. 

Saturday 

Early on Saturday morning the Midlands, eastern England and the southeast will start cloudy but will brighten up. There will be a few showers early on but as pressure builds in from the southwest, they subside. The focus for any rain then transfers to the northwest. Most of Saturday will be fine and bright with winter sunshine and light winds. Showers will feed in from the Irish Sea to Merseyside and Wales even to north Devon. 

By Saturday night, a warm front will be reaching western Scotland throwing cloud over much of the UK. The southeast of Britain will stay clear for longer, allowing temperatures in the Home Counties to fall near to freezing with a touch of ground frost. 

Sunday will be quite a different day. Southeast England will feel cool for a while but much of the UK will be in the warm sector, so mild and breezy. A deepening area of low pressure will move from eastern Greenland towards western Norway. This will bring very windy weather to northern Scotland. By day northwestern areas will see rain but much of the UK will be dry with areas of cloud and sunnier skies for others. The UK stays mild and blustery in the evening. Scotland will be very windy after dark with strong W/SW winds, even gales in exposure. Another cold front will edge over the far north of Scotland on Sunday evening bringing more rain. 

High pressure will move close to southern England early next week bringing more settled weather.