Election day forecast: chilly start giving way to milder southerly air with well scattered showers

Elections are taking place across the UK on Thursday 7 May 2026. These include: some local government elections, Scottish Parliament elections, Senedd Cymru elections and mayoral elections in England.

Not everyone is getting to vote this time but there will be plenty of election activity around Britain.

If you have registered to vote, and not already postal voted, then how will the weather be between 7am and 10pm as you head to the polling station?

We will be losing the chilly air, which has felt confusing in the past few days when the weather looked super out of the window with promising sunshine but the air has been cold from the north. It will be cold overnight where the skies are clear so you’ll need a coat if you are one of the early birds heading to vote soon after 7am. 

Wales will be around 14 to 16C on Thursday. The day will start off fair with bright spells but showers will get going for the west coast. By the afternoon, there will be clusters of heavy showers for western Wales but inland could stay dry until the evening, when the downpours become more scattered. 

The flow is veering to a southerly and so the air will feel warmer by the end of the day, without that cool edge.

Temperatures in Scotland will be around 12 to 15C on the mainland but only 10 or 11C for the Islands.

It will be blustery for the Scottish Islands as people head to vote for their MSPs and there will be rain from a nearby low pressure. In Scotland, there will be showers but as so often happens, these will be hit and miss. Keep an eye on the Netweahter Radar if you are thinking about popping out in your lunch break. There will be some heavy downpours pushing eastwards over mainland Scotland in the afternoon with wet and grey weather in the far northwest. Will it affect the turnout?

Across England, it is a bit more mixed. Some areas will start off fine and sunny but nippy, others will be rather grey even damp. There will be a scattering of showers for Cornwall and Devon, a few inland for NW England and a few for Kent, around the Thames estuary and into East Anglia. It will feel pleasant in any sunshine and there will be large areas with fine weather.

The shower risk does continue for northern Britain into the evening, especially for western Scotland but many other parts hold onto fair weather. 

If you are still undecided, Who Can I Vote For lists all the candidates in your region.