Weather and climate change

Headline:

Rain in the south overnight, turning colder from the north.

This Evening and Tonight:

Heavy rain clearing southeast across England and Wales tonight. Otherwise clear spells and showers, some wintry. More persistent rain and snow over the high ground in Scotland, where patchy frost and ice is also likely. Windy, but slowly easing.

Friday:

A cold and windy day with a mixture of sunshine and blustery showers. Showers merging to give more persistent rain and snow in places, snow most likely over northern hills.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Widely frosty to start Saturday, then sunshine and scattered showers, some wintry. Lighter winds. Rain then showers on Sunday. Some hill snow. Further rain arriving in west Monday. Windier again.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC) on Thu 12 Mar 2026

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.

Updated: 14:00 (UTC) on Thu 12 Mar 2026

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.

Updated: 15:00 (UTC) on Thu 12 Mar 2026