Kirkwall (Orkney Islands) weather

Headline:

Dry with plenty of sunny spells on Thursday.

Today:

It will be a dry day and cloudy in the morning, especially for Orkney with more sunny spells for Shetland. Skies becoming predominately clear through the afternoon with just some patchy cloud lingering for Shetland. Light easterly winds. Maximum temperature 9 °C.

Tonight:

A dry evening with clear skies for Orkney but some patchy cloud over Shetland. Remaining dry overnight and becoming cloudier for all with some limited clear spells. Light easterly winds. Minimum temperature 3 °C.

Friday:

It will be a dry and mostly cloudy day with some limited bright or sunny spells breaking through. Light southeasterly winds strengthening later. Maximum temperature 9 °C.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Generally cloudy on Saturday and Sunday with outbreaks of rain at times. Becoming drier and more settled on Monday with sunny spells. Fresh southerly winds turning westerly on Monday.

Most likely starting off widely fine with sunny spells, following the clearance of early morning mist and fog. This most likely in the south, whilst in the north there's a greater chance of more cloud which may take some time to clear. There's a small chance that fine and very warm weather could extend right across the country over the following days, but it's more likely that cloud/rain in the northwest will sink southeast introducing more changeable and cooler conditions for a time mid-week. It then becomes roughly equal chances that we see a resumption of mainly fine and dry conditions versus a continuation of more changeable weather with a mixture of rain and drier interludes.

Forecast confidence is lower than average for this range, although fairly typical for late Spring. A typical mixture of drier and settled periods, and periods of wetter and more unsettled conditions, is on balance slightly more likely than predominantly unsettled or predominantly settled. Temperatures are likely to be around average overall, with a slightly increased chance of warm or hot spells. Any such spells could be accompanied by locally heavy showers and thunderstorms.