Orkney & Shetland weather

Headline:

Mainly dry, a few showers Saturday.

This Evening and Tonight:

Scattered showers in the early evening, gradually dwindling late evening and overnight, as winds ease and back to a moderate south to southwest breeze come dawn. Minimum temperature 6 °C.

Saturday:

Occasional brighter spells on a mainly dry day with only a few well scattered showers appearing. Winds now backed south to southeast. Maximum temperature 9 °C.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Southeast winds maintaining rather cloudy skies and showers that merge to longer periods of light to moderate rain at times, most readily Orkney.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC) on Fri 19 Dec 2025

A gradual transition to more settled conditions is expected, as high pressure builds to the north of the UK. This will bring a strengthening easterly wind over the Christmas period, making it feel noticeably colder than of late. Whilst there will be a fair amount of dry weather, a few showers will still be possible, particularly across eastern and southern parts which may be wintry in places, more especially over high ground. High pressure will likely dominate the weather in the run up to the New Year, slowly drifting to the west. This will maintain largely settled conditions, although with an increasing chance of showery conditions later in the period. Temperatures will be below average much of the time, with frost likely where clear skies and light winds prevail.

Updated: 14:00 (UTC) on Fri 19 Dec 2025

High pressure will probably be close to the UK at the start of this period, perhaps most likely centred to the west, and whilst this may allow relatively settled and dry conditions with a risk of frost and fog initially, there will be the chance of some occasional wet weather at times, perhaps more especially in the north and east. Given some relatively cold air close to the UK, this may bring the chance of some wintry hazards in places. Towards mid-month, there is the potential for rather more changeable conditions to develop more widely, although confidence in this aspect of the forecast is currently low.

Updated: 15:00 (UTC) on Fri 19 Dec 2025