Kirkwall Youth Hostel (Orkney Islands) weather

Headline:

Cold with sleet and snow, prolonged over Shetland.

Today:

The morning will begin mostly dry before a band of sleet and snow spreads north over Shetland where it becomes prolonged from the afternoon. Sleet and snow will pass briefly over Orkney during the middle of the day. Maximum temperature 3 °C.

Tonight:

A mainly dry and frosty night in Orkney with sleet and snow over Shetland becoming patchy and lighter from midnight. Minimum temperature -2 °C.

Friday:

A dry over Orkney at first and Shetland from late afternoon otherwise cloudy with wintry showers. Maximum temperature 4 °C.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Scattered wintry showers become frequent for a time late Saturday into Sunday before clearing east late Sunday. A band of rain will push northeast during Monday.

There is now much higher confidence for milder air to overspread the UK by the start of this period with the last of the cold air of the past couple of weeks expected to clear from the extreme northeast during the course of Monday. So this period likely to see brisk southwesterly winds bringing a very different feel to the weather than of late. There will be some rain or showers at times, but also a good deal of dry weather and although often cloudy, some brighter interludes are expected, especially to the lee of high ground. The milder conditions will see temperatures widely above average, and will lead to a rapid thaw of any remaining lying snow across northern parts of Scotland.

The outlook through the latter part of January and into the start of February is typically uncertain. A broadly southwesterly regime is marginally favoured bringing changeable conditions and spells of wet, windy and mild weather are likely, potentially with some very strong winds at times. However there is a chance that drier and colder conditions could extend into the UK from the east or northeast, along with a risk of some snow.