Dorchester (Dorset) weather

Headline:

Cold and frosty tonight but remaining dry.

This Evening and Tonight:

Cloud clears this evening, leaving a dry night with plenty of clear skies. Temperatures falling away quickly to give a widespread frost, especially in rural parts, and a few freezing fog patches, these mainly in the east. Light winds. Minimum temperature -1 °C.

Thursday:

A chilly start with frost and patchy freezing fog slow to clear during the morning. Then a dry day with plenty of winter sunshine, but breezy along the south coast. Maximum temperature 8 °C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Another chilly start on Friday with sunny intervals. Turning cloudier later and colder over the weekend, with a few wintry showers in places. Breezy at times, giving a wind chill.

High pressure is expected to remain slow moving to the northeast of the UK. As a result, breezy winds across many areas are likely to come from the east or southeast, and cloud amounts are expected to increase as continental air is gradually drawn across the UK. Breezy winds and increased cloud amounts are expected to exacerbate the cold feel, with temperatures often below average. Although many places across the country will remain dry, southern and southwestern areas in particular may see some wintry precipitation at times. Overnight frost is likely to feature during this period, particularly where skies are clear, however where winds remain breezy this will decrease the overall risk of a hard frost forming.

Weather patterns in the UK are most likely to be slowly evolving. It is most likely that high pressure to the east or northeast of the UK will dominate at first in some form or another, but with time this may decline, allowing an erratic transition to rather more unsettled and possibly less cold conditions. During this transition there is the possibility of more prolonged rain or snow developing, at least for a time, but confidence in these details is currently very low.