Haroldswick (Shetland Islands) weather

Headline:

Rain and snow spreading northwards Thursday. Dry for Orkney later.

This Evening and Tonight:

It will be cloudy with persistent rain, sleet or hill snow for Orkney in the evening, becoming more showery overnight. Dry but cold and cloudy for Shetland. Minimum temperature -2 °C.

Thursday:

Showery rain over Orkney at first, spreading north to Shetland and falling as snow for a time. Drier, clearer spells developing for Orkney later. Maximum temperature 3 °C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Staying cold with some bright spells and a few showers from Friday through to Sunday, showers perhaps more persistent and wintry for a time early Friday and again later Saturday.

This period carries much more uncertainty than usual as milder air from the Atlantic attempts to displace the cold air over the UK. On balance milder, or at least less cold conditions are likely to make some progress into the country by Monday, bringing a spell of snow for some areas, most likely central and northern parts with rain more likely across the south and west, before it either clears or dies out. Its uncertain as to whether these less cold conditions ever reach the extreme north and east, and here it may well remain cold throughout. Further into next week its likely to remain cold across the north and east, these colder condition possibly extending back into the rest of the country.

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.