River Cottage Hq (Devon) weather

Headline:

Dry and chilly for New Year's celebrations.

Today:

A frosty start to New Year's Eve with fog locally lingering until late morning. Remaining dry with light winds and plenty of winter sunshine throughout the day, though cloud building in the north during the afternoon. Feeling rather cold. Maximum temperature 6 °C.

Tonight:

Frost and fog forming under clear skies as the sun sets. Cloud building during the early hours accompanied by scattered showers, resulting in temperatures rebounding and fog clearing by dawn. Minimum temperature -3 °C.

Thursday:

Rather cloudy on New Year's Day with isolated outbreaks of rain. A few brighter spells may emerge in the afternoon. Chilly in the strengthening breeze. Maximum temperature 7 °C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Sunnier spells emerging into the weekend, most prolonged in the east whilst wintry showers feed in from the west. Staying breezy and turning colder with severe frosts and ice overnight.

Cold northerly winds dominant across the UK in the first week of January. These will bring wintry showers (often of snow) to many coastlines (and areas just inland of these) that are exposed to onshore winds. Day-to-day changes in wind direction will change the places most exposed to the showers, but many inland locations across central and southern areas will remain mostly dry but cold - some more coherent bands of rain, sleet and snow working south at times. Into the second week of January slightly milder conditions will attempt to move in from the west, with a risk of further snow on the leading edge of these turning to rain. Colder regime more likely to the north with average to just below average in the south.

Whilst confidence in details is low, by the start of this period the transition back to westerly winds bringing Atlantic weather systems into the UK is expected to be complete, with temperatures most likely recovering to around or just below average. There is perhaps a weak signal for slowly evolving weather patterns to be more favoured than normal, such patterns increase the chances of frost and fog above normal by night.