A few wintry hazards to watch out for this weekend

There’s been a big change in weather type during the past few days. After more than a week of torrential rain, strong winds and flooding, high pressure has moved over the UK, bringing calmer, colder weather for all.

While the change to quieter weather has been great news for flood-hit areas, there is likely to be more rain for a time early next week, which could bring further flooding problems in places.

However, before that happens, there is the weekend to get through, which itself will provide a few wintry hazards – especially if you’re travelling at night or during the mornings.

Friday night

With cold air in place, temperatures are going to fall quickly after dark, with a widespread frost setting in. Towns and cities are likely to drop to around -2C, with some rural areas down to as low as -6C.

There’ll also be a band of cloud moving southwards overnight across Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and north Wales. With the air being so cold, this is likely to give a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow, with a dusting in places – especially over the hills and mountains.

With sub-zero temperatures, the moisture from these showers, as well as seepage from the sodden ground, will give a risk of icy patches across the UK.

Dense fog will also form, with the visibility in some places as low as 100 metres.

Saturday

All of the wintry hazards that develop during Friday night will linger into Saturday morning. As temperatures only slowly rise, frost, ice and fog could hang around until lunchtime locally.

There’ll also be a band of rain, sleet and snow moving across the Midlands, East Anglia and south east England during the morning, which again, could give a dusting in places – generally over the hills.

Otherwise, Saturday promises to be a crisp day, with lots of sunshine, excellent visibility and just a few coastal showers for northern and eastern coasts of Scotland and England.

Temperatures will struggle though, with most places in the range of 2-6C.

Sunday

Frost, fog and ice will once again plague the first part of the day. Temporarily, there’ll be some sunshine, but a band of rain will start to spread in from the west on a freshening breeze.

This means that most places will turn wet during the day, with some snow likely for the hills of Scotland and northern England, as the rain bumps into the leftovers of colder air.

Next week

The first half of next week looks cold and unsettled with showers or longer spells of rain, which could cause some further flooding problems in places.

However, there are signs that high pressure will build again from mid-week onwards, bringing a return to drier, brighter weather.

If you manage to take any wintry weather pictures this weekend, I’d love to see them. You can send them to me on Twitter – @liamdutton