Weather and climate change

Headline:

A largely dry and bright day on Saturday.

Today:

Any isolated mist and fog across southern and central areas slowly clearing, leaving a bright and mostly dry day with a few showers. Cloud and rain spreading into the west later where it becomes increasingly windy. Temperatures near average.

Tonight:

A band of rain will move into the southwest and Wales, becoming slow moving in places. Mostly dry elsewhere, some rain in the southeast moving northwards. Windy in the north.

Sunday:

A cloudier day with more rain moving in the southeast through the afternoon and tracking northwards. Showers continuing across southwest England and for parts of Scotland. Sunnier for Northern Ireland

Outlook for Monday to Wednesday:

Further spells of rain or showers through Monday with rather cloudy skies throughout. High pressure building towards the northeast into Tuesday with colder conditions developing through the week.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC) on Sat 20 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