Atherton (Greater Manchester) weather

Headline:

Bright with sunny spells. Wet and windy on Thursday.

Today:

A brighter but breezy day on Wednesday with a mix of cloud and sunny spells. A few showers possible, especially across the north of the region. Temperatures near normal. Maximum temperature 11 °C.

Tonight:

Largely dry this evening with cloud building from the west. Turning widely windy overnight especially over the hills with some patchy rain by dawn. Frost-free overnight. Minimum temperature 6 °C.

Thursday:

A very windy day with gales in places. Often cloudy with rain, locally heavy in places, sinking southwards across the region followed by showers, wintry over the hills. Turning colder. Maximum temperature 12 °C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Colder on Friday with blustery heavy showers, occasionally wintry, especially in the north. Drier and less cold on Saturday. Then further rain on Sunday.

Mostly changeable through this period, with Atlantic frontal systems passing close to or across the UK at times. These will bring spells of rain and showers, most frequent and heavy in the west or northwest, and perhaps accompanied by strong winds. However, there should also be some drier interludes under transient ridges of high pressure, with longer dry periods most likely in the south and east, though even here some wet weather is possible at times. Temperatures will be near average for the period as a whole, but with some shorter-duration colder interludes at times when frost and hill snow will be possible. Later in the period there may be a transition to more blocked or slower evolving weather patterns, though confidence in the detail of this is low.

Blocked, or slowly evolving, weather patterns are favoured for late March into early April, with high pressure probably building to the north or northeast of the UK. Whilst confidence is low in how this will influence the weather across the UK, this tends to lead to a more prolonged period of a certain weather type, be it settled or unsettled. In any case, a reduction in Atlantic-dominated weather patterns is likely, although some wet weather remains possible at times, perhaps more especially in the south and east whilst northwestern areas tend to be drier than average. Temperatures will probably be close to average for the period as a whole, but there is an increased chance of some colder conditions developing for a time with a risk of frost.