A look at the rest of the week, as high pressure tries to hold on. It will be very mild for some, colder from the northwest and why are people asking about a Beast from the East?
Wednesday started with fog over parts of England, a cold and grey morning, whereas further west, Wales and NW England saw sunshine. A weak weather front brought more cloud and a little patchy rain over Northern Ireland and Scotland, but high pressure over mainland Europe is subduing the Atlantic systems. Closer to the high pressure, there is steady dry weather with only light winds. The fog has been slow to erode on Wednesday, waiting on the sunshine and only a very light breeze from the east.
Under the murky fog and cloud temperatures, at midday on Wednesday, were at only 5C but for western and north Wales in the sunshine, up to 15 or 16C. Slightly higher after 2pm and warmer for the south coast of England.
Netweather Radar Thursday 0830 showing a chilly start under the clear skies but frontal cloud and rain out west
A frontal band will manage to work its way over Ireland, Scotland and later Wales on Thursday, bringing more cloud and rain, but continuing with a very mild flow from the south ahead of it. This divide will make a great difference across the UK. Staying very mild in the southeast but colder with a frost by night further northwest.
Mild air holding on for some in the next few days but colder air pushing in from the northwest
Wednesday night
Frontal rain will set in for NW Scotland during Wednesday night with the mild southerly flow across Britain. The murky low cloud over East Anglia will drift northwards over eastern then NE England tonight.
Thursday
The frontal rain will be over Northern Ireland and western Scotland for the start of Thursday. There will be a good deal of cloud over Scotland although perhaps some lee breaks for Edinburgh and Lothian. Much of England and Wales should be bright and sunny with just a few areas of patchy cloud. It will feel warm, temperatures widely 14 to 16C, with 17 or 18C possible in the sunshine.
It will be a different story for the far northwest. Colder air will follow the frontal rain with a veer in the wind direction to the NW. This rain band will be slow moving on Thursday, gradually creeping southeastwards over the Irish Sea with very wet and windy weather for Anglesey by early evening. The rain will reach Aberdeen and the Central Belt with increasing cloud for western England and more of Wales after a lovely day.
Friday
By Friday morning there will be cold air for the north and west but the mild air holding on in the southeast. The weakened front will be across the Scotland/England border and back over Wales where it will be more showery. The rain will clear away over the North Sea by lunchtime, with frontal cloud lingering. The southeast of England should be sunny and could again be very mild. To the north and west of the frontal band there will be sunshine but cooler air. High pressure will be building over the UK settling the weather down. The main issue will be banks of cloud making it feel cooler by day.
Saturday looks fair for most, just a scattering of showers for SW Britain. There will be areas of grey cloud, particularly for Wales and England which makes the temperature forecasting difficult. Under a blanket of cloud only 12 or 13C at best but with prolonged sunshine, up to 18C is possible for southern Britain.
We have had a few questions about another Beast from the East . Assuming there must have been a random tabloid article somewhere which has received some online traction, but no, we are not seeing a signal for that kind of cold and snow. The last one was in 2018, at the very end of February/beginning of March and we were into a thaw by the 4th. There will be an update this week about the goings on in the Stratosphere, the upper atmosphere.
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