Weather and climate change

Headline:

Rather cold, with sunshine and showers, and night frost.

Today:

Rain and hill snow for north Scotland sinking south and turning more showery: possible heavy but some sunny intervals. Further south, sunny spells and scattered showers. Feeling chilly.

Tonight:

Further showers and more persistent cloud in parts of central Britain, wintry on hills. Showers tending to become confined to coasts elsewhere with clear periods developing giving frost in places.

Friday:

After a chilly start, a mixture of sunshine and showers. These locally heavy with a risk of hail and thunder in the northeast, where they maybe wintry over high ground.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Mixed picture with spells of rain and strong winds heading northeast through Saturday; becoming widely showery by Monday. Temperatures nearer the seasonal average, perhaps briefly warm in the southeast.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 6 May 2021

Remaining unsettled into the new week and for the rest of this period. To start, spells of locally heavy rain across the far northwest, while all other areas see a mixture of sunshine and scattered showers on Monday. Downpours can possibly be quite heavy, with risks of hail and thunderstorms in the west. Winds fresh to strong across much of the UK, with potential for gales at first in the north and west, becoming confined to the northwest later. Temperatures nearer average to rather warm, bar the far north which is likely to still feel rather cold, to begin the week. A return to near to below-average temperatures thereafter with the ongoing unsettled weather of mixed showers or longer spells of rain and strong winds.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 6 May 2021

Confidence is low for this outlook, with weakening signals from global weather drivers. A mixture of sunny spells and showers is likely, especially at first, with areas in the south experiencing the most settled and dry conditions through this period. Towards the north and northwest there is an increased chance of unsettled weather as longer spells of rain and strong winds arrive from the Atlantic at times. Temperatures likely to be around average.

Updated: 04:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 6 May 2021