Marwick (Orkney Islands) weather

Headline:

Mostly dry today. but rather cloudy. Southwest breezes.

Today:

Temperatures down from yesterdays seasonally very mild highs, but still above the seasonal averages. Most staying dry and rather cloudy, with the best chance of limited brighter spells expected for the morning. Moderate to fresh south to southwest winds. Maximum temperature 10 °C.

Tonight:

Staying dry with clear spells increasing through the evening and night across Orkney, to a lesser extent Shetland. Light southerly breezes, allowing a frost to form in Orkney come dawn. Minimum temperature 0 °C.

Sunday:

Shetland cloudy but dry. Orkney seeing occasional bright spells for the morning, then cloud increasing for the afternoon, bringing some patchy rain into the evening. Winds fresh southerly. Maximum temperature 8 °C.

Outlook for Monday to Wednesday:

Monday mainly dry with early sunshine, waning to brighter spells for the afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday mainly cloudy with showers. Llight winds Tuesday, then a freshening northeasterly developing on Wednesday.

A transition to a rather more changeable and at times unsettled weather pattern is likely to occur during the first few days of this period. Outbreaks of rain and freshening winds will probably make inroads from the southwest during Thursday ahead of conditions more widely becoming wetter and windier by next weekend. Whilst a milder, wetter and windier scenario is considered most likely, there remains a small chance that colder air from Europe may continue to feed into northern Britain, especially at first, increasing the chance of snowfall here. Towards the end of January, further periods of strong winds and heavy rain are likely to move in from the Atlantic. Whilst generally mild conditions look to close out the month, some large day to day changes in temperature are possible.

A dominant flow from the Atlantic looks likely through this period, resulting in an unsettled, milder and windier than average period. This is likely to result in areas of rain and periods of stronger winds affecting most if not all parts of the UK at times, though with the wettest and windiest weather probably occurring towards the north and west. However, the potential for brief colder spells with associated frost, ice and snow remains, following any deep lows crossing the region. Pressure may build across southern areas towards mid-February, which would result in drier, settled conditions, albeit with an increased chance of overnight fog and frost, becoming established here.