Braintree (Essex) weather

Headline:

Mostly cloudy with frost and fog patches.

This Evening and Tonight:

Rather cloudy overnight, but some southern and western areas could see more in the way of clear spells, with frost and fog patches. These perhaps thick enough for some drizzle. Minimum temperature 0 °C.

Thursday:

Early low cloud, and patchy fog will be slow to clear, but some sunny spells are likely to develop by the afternoon. Winds strengthening a little by the evening. Chilly. Maximum temperature 6 °C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Winds strengthening overnight, with outbreaks of rain, clearing through Friday. Staying cloudy and breezy Saturday, with further light rain. Likely drier Sunday, with brighter spells, but still the odd shower.

This period will start off in a similar vein to current conditions. This means largely unsettled weather is expected, with showers or longer spells of rain for many places and occasionally rather windy. Some hill snow is likely in the north too. Temperatures will be close to average for most, but perhaps rather cold in the far northeast. A subtle change is now looking likely during the second half of this period, as the winds look like backing off to more of an easterly or northeasterly direction. It is likely to remain largely unsettled, especially towards the south, but it is likely to become colder with an increasing risk of snow, more particularly in the north. An often brisk wind will accentuate the colder feel too.

Something of a north-south split seems quite likely at first, with low pressure to the south and high pressure to the north, before a potential change back to more of a southwest-northeast split, similar to the current setup. With the jet stream likely further south than normal, the wettest conditions are more likely towards the south. Northwestern parts of the UK are most likely to be drier than normal. Whilst incursions of wet, windy and milder weather are favoured at times in the south and later the west, colder conditions further north will bring an increased risk of wintry hazards, especially where any precipitation from the southwest interacts with the cold air. The colder conditions may affect all parts at times, more especially early in this period.