Kirkwall weather

Headline:

Rain crossing Friday morning, then showers for afternoon. Severe gales.

This Evening and Tonight:

Increasing cloud as rain begins to push up over Orkney after dark reaching Shetland later in the evening. This soon clears north with strong southwesterly winds by dawn. Minimum temperature 5 °C.

Friday:

A cloudy but dry start, a band of rain will move east across the Orkney and Shetland by lunchtime, potentially quite heavy for a short time. Blustery showers later. Maximum temperature 10 °C.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

A showery outlook for the weekend accompanied by gales, sometimes severe. Heavy squally showers particularly on Sunday. Drier and brighter on Monday with winds easing.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC) on Thu 21 Mar 2019

High pressure is expected to dominate at first, bringing largely settled weather with bright or sunny spells. However, weak fronts may bring more cloud and some rain to the far north where it will remain breezier. Patchy overnight frosts are likely but there should be a gradually warming trend for daytime temperatures. High pressure should gradually lose its influence towards the end of March. Southern and southeastern areas will remain mostly fine, though with some fog. Spells of rain and stronger winds are likely to spread from the northwest into central areas. Temperatures are generally expected to continue to rise, becoming very warm for some, whilst in the northwest they will remain nearer normal. Further frontal systems are expected to push in from the Atlantic for the start of April.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC) on Thu 21 Mar 2019

At the start of this period it looks most likely that we will see changeable conditions as spells of wet and windy weather spread from the west. Towards the middle of the month confidence is low; however there is a possibility that we may see a return of more widely settled and drier weather. Some wetter interludes are still possible, particularly in the northwest, and also showers perhaps coming up from the south at times. Temperatures are likely to remain above normal throughout.

Updated: 16:00 (UTC) on Thu 21 Mar 2019