Friday 3rd January 2025

Most cold, though with a mild and wet blip…preceded by snow though.

Thanks to Tracy for the photograph.

And may I also wish you all a happy and hopefully sunnier new year.

The general picture going into this weekend sees the cold air established, with low pressure to our south-west moving in, which will bring a temporary mild blip.

It’s a cold and frosty start – we got down to around -3’C last night. A mostly sunny day bar a bit of cloud floating around at times, more likely this afternoon. Cold, 3’C, maybe 4’C. High cloud spreading across tonight, though not sufficient cloud to stop a frost – down to around -2’C.

Saturday starts bright with some hazy sunshine. After that there is quite a bit of uncertainty, though precipitation will arrive at some point, perhaps as early as 2pm, perhaps not until 8pm – I’m more minded by the earlier part of this window. Probably there is at least a short spell of snow to start – I cannot 100% promise this, but 1-2 hours of snow falling seems reasonable, with perhaps a slushy mess or even a small covering of snow.

However, as much as I wouldn’t rule it out being mostly rain, a 3-6 hour spell of snow with more in the way of disruption remains plausible too. There is also an outside chance of freezing rain.

It will all turn to rain at some point during the evening or overnight but given that the arrival time and amount of time it could snow are both uncertain, when it turns to rain is also uncertain – but it will do, and any snow will melt. 3’C at best and becoming breezy.

Outbreaks of rain overnight and slowly becoming milder.

It’ll probably need an update tomorrow! But do also keep an eye on the Met Office warnings, which normally update around 10/11am ish each day.

Sunday will be cloudy and mild with outbreaks of rain at times, some heavy – but not always raining. Reaching 12’C and mild. Further showery rain overnight, temperatures dropping once more – a small chance it turns back to sleet/wet snow by dawn.

Monday sees the low pressure clear east – and colder air spread back south.

Early rain and perhaps sleet/wet snow will gradually clear east – timing uncertain. It will likely remain at least fairly cloudy, but should slowly brighten up. An outside chance of a wintry shower later in the day. Reaching around 4’C. Skies probably clear enough for a frost overnight, down to around -2’C. A small chance of a snow shower though, which could lead to slippery surfaces in the morning should you catch one.

Tuesday looks mostly sunny, some cloud floating around perhaps, a wintry shower cannot be discounted. Around 4’C. Frost likely overnight, fog possible, down to around -2’C.

The more likely outcome for Wednesday through to Friday is that we stay cold and sunny, daytime temperatures around 2’C to 3’C, overnight temperatures roughly -3’C, but give and take – frosts for sure.

However, it’s plausible that we see low pressure approaching from the south-west and we play the will it snow or rain game again, at some point. Should this happen, a mild and wet blip could occur, if low pressure pushes far enough north, but the main theme will be for it to remain cold.

Next weekend more likely cold and sunny…but again, low pressure could try to push up from the south-west.

I’ll try to update tomorrow when the picture becomes clearer, but also keep an eye out on the Met Office forecasts/warnings if you have plans for tomorrow afternoon/evening.