Weather and climate change

Headline:

Windy and cold today. Turning milder but cloudy for Christmas.

Today:

Widely windy with gales, severe in the north and west. Frequent showers arriving from the northwest, heavy with hail and providing snow over hills before gradually fading later. Sunny spells in between, but feeling very cold in the strong winds.

Tonight:

Showers becoming confined to far eastern coasts and winds slowly moderating. Clear spells overnight for most, but cloud building in the west towards dawn. Touch of frost in sheltered spots.

Monday:

Dry and fine in the east with prolonged periods of sunshine, though feeling chilly. Outbreaks of rain and extensive low cloud spreading into western areas, and turning mild.

Outlook for Tuesday to Thursday:

Predominantly settled, mild and cloudy for the Christmas period. Best chance of brighter spells to the east of high ground. Wetter and windier across northwest Scotland.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC) on Sun 22 Dec 2024

Boxing Day weather will be characterised by mild, cloudy conditions for most, with bits of drizzle in places and perhaps some more persistent rain in northwest Scotland. This sets the scene for the next few days too, with an area of high pressure becoming established across much of the UK, probably centred over or just to the south of England. The highest chance of rain and strong winds will be in northwest Scotland, with many other areas predominantly dry but rather cloudy, although more settled conditions may well extend to the northwest at times too. Widely mild at first, perhaps exceptionally so in some places early on, but temperatures probably return to nearer normal by early January. Throughout, any clearer spells overnight may lead to localised frost and fog.

Updated: 14:00 (UTC) on Sat 21 Dec 2024

Confidence in this period is low, but overall slowly-evolving weather patterns are more favoured. Overall, there is a slightly reduced chance compared with normal of wet and windy spells, with instead a slightly greater potential for colder episodes during the first half of January. While drier than average conditions are likely for many areas, some precipitation is still expected, which could lead to wintry hazards at times. Temperatures are likely to be close to or a little above normal overall, but this could be made up of a mix of milder and colder interludes.

Updated: 15:00 (UTC) on Sat 21 Dec 2024