Headline:

Rain and snow tonight, then blustery showers on Friday

This Evening and Tonight:

Blustery showers pushing across the area on strong to gale west to southwest winds. Outbreaks frequent and heavy in west, occasional in east and turning wintry to quite low levels. Minimum temperature -1 °C.

Friday:

Showers continuing, frequent in the west, occasional in east, but outbreaks lighter than Thursday night with sleet and snow increasingly confined to higher areas. Limited brighter spells best towards Inverness. Maximum temperature 7 °C.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Showers for Saturday focused in west, with Inverness best sheltered. Rain early Sunday, clearing to blustery showers by afternoon, wintry across hills. Scattered showers then periods of rain for Monday.

Signs are that much of the UK will see a period of more settled weather for part of this period at least. At first some wet and windy weather is likely across the northwest especially. However its likely to turn more settled from midweek onwards, and by the weekend most, if not all of the country should be predominantly dry. Its possible we could see some overnight frost and fog, but by day there should be spells of pleasant spring sunshine making it feel warm away from coasts exposed to a brisk easterly wind. How long the settled conditions last is less certain with some signals that showers / rain could return later in the period, perhaps the south most prone to this.

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.