A mixed midweek with frost risk and scattered showers before Friday warms

It was a chilly start for the northern half of the UK on Wednesday morning. Altnaharra in the Highlands fell down to -6.1C which was the coldest May night since 2021. Kinrace -5.3C, Braemar down to -4.3C and Aboyne -4.1C resulting in a frosty start. Gardeners are at a tricky juncture where there is warmth and sunshine by day but the risk of frost remains. It will be chilly again tonight, where the skies are clear. Eastern England looks most prone by the early hours of Thursday. 

The cool northerly flow certainly made a difference in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland on Tuesday. Further south, Wiggonholt in West Sussex reached 18.5C. The flow will change with a more southerly influence on the way. 

High pressure is trying to bring settled weather to the UK and there will be a lot of fair weather around for Wednesday. However, there is a weather front over eastern England, down over the English Channel and hooking back up over SW England into Northern Ireland.

There are onshore showers around The Wash and these will continue to push inland over East Anglia today, reaching Kent at lunchtime. Some areas will miss them but others will see rain today as the showers drift by. 

In the cool air, temperatures will be 9 to 12C further south and again they could reach 15 to 17 even 18C. There will be sunny spells in places but showers over Cornwall, western Devon, Pembrokeshire and Counties Antrim and Down. Overall, not a bad day, warm in any sunshine but still feeling cool in northerly cloudy areas and there will be clusters of showers for some.

 Away to the north is a low pressure which will swing past northern Scotland over the next few days. As it deepens later on Thursday, it will throw its cold front over the UK, bringing a band of showery rain. By Friday, there will be more showers and some heavy, even thundery downpours over England and Wales

Tonight there will be areas of cloud and clear spells. Without a blanket of cloud, temperatures will fall away. The UKV model highlights eastern counties of England and the Midlands as having a risk of frost tonight. Away to the far northwest, closer to the low pressure, it will be breezy with bands of showery rain.

Thursday

Expect another cool start and again it will be a mixed day with areas of cloud, a few showers but also bright or sunny spells. It will feel warmer through the day as the flow veers to a southerly and we lose that nippy northerly. The low to the northwest will continue to feed bands of showers in, particularly for blustery western Scotland. Northern and western parts of the UK will see more showers through the afternoon, whereas much of England should be fair.

During Thursday evening, the cold front will approach  NW Scotland with more showery rain and the winds will veer to a colder northwesterly. By Friday, there will be a divide with cooler, sunny weather over much of Scotland, this band of showery rain and cloud but to the south some warmer weather. There will be sunny spells and very light winds but clusters of showers breaking out, bringing the risk of heavy downpours on Friday afternoon. Temperatures will shift up to 16 to 20 perhaps 21C and it will feel much warmer into the evening.