Weather and climate change

Headline:

Patchy rain edging southeast with brighter, fresher conditions following.

This Evening and Tonight:

Outbreaks of rain, with some hill snow in the north, rain continuing southeastwards across the north and west of England and Wales. Dry with low cloud to the southeast. Clearer with frost further later for Northern Ireland and western Scotland.

Friday:

Rain will edge southeastwards across England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland look largely dry with some sunshine, reaching Wales and the north and west of England later. Generally cooler.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Cloudy with patchy rain across central and southeast England, and northwest Scotland on Saturday. Fine elsewhere. Rather cloudy thereafter, mostly dry with some patchy rain. Often windy in the northwest.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC) on Thu 5 Mar 2026

The first part of this period will continue to see the UK located at the interface between high pressure across Europe and low pressure over the North Atlantic. As such, western areas will likely see spells of rain at times, along with stronger winds, whereas eastern parts should see more in the way of drier interludes, though even here, some rain is possible from time to time. Towards the middle of March, there is a signal for unsettled conditions to perhaps become more widespread, with all parts seeing a higher chance of rain and stronger winds. Throughout, temperatures should overall be a little above average for most areas.

Updated: 14:00 (UTC) on Thu 5 Mar 2026

The start of this period could see unsettled conditions fairly widely across the UK, with spells of rain and strong winds affecting many areas at times, although western areas likely remain wettest. Then, whilst confidence in the details is low, there is the potential for weather patterns to become slower-moving by late March, with unsettled weather becoming more confined to parts of the south, as areas towards the north and northwest turn drier. Given this pattern, the chance of wintry hazards will increase compared to earlier in March. Overall, temperatures will probably end up near to average, but there is an increasing chance of below average temperatures towards the end of March, but at present there is no strong sign for any really cold weather to develop.

Updated: 15:00 (UTC) on Thu 5 Mar 2026