Heaton Chapel (Greater Manchester) weather

Headline:

Patchy rain tonight. Heavy snow in places Thursday evening.

This Evening and Tonight:

A dry evening but cloud increasing with patchy light rain, sleet and hill snow arriving from the west overnight. Winds easing with a frost and some ice possible in places, especially early on in the night. Minimum temperature -1 °C.

Thursday:

Cloudy on Thursday with initial patchy light rain and hill snow, though some brightness. Turning more unsettled from the south during the evening with heavy rain, snow and strong winds. Maximum temperature 5 °C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Rain and heavy snow clearing eastwards through Friday. Brighter and drier on Saturday with frost early and late. Cold start on Sunday, with rain, snow and strong winds arriving later.

This period carries much more uncertainty than usual as milder air from the Atlantic attempts to displace the cold air over the UK. On balance milder, or at least less cold conditions are likely to make some progress into the country by Monday, bringing a spell of snow for some areas, most likely central and northern parts with rain more likely across the south and west, before it either clears or dies out. Its uncertain as to whether these less cold conditions ever reach the extreme north and east, and here it may well remain cold throughout. Further into next week its likely to remain cold across the north and east, these colder condition possibly extending back into the rest of the country.

The outlook through the latter part of January and into the start of February is typically uncertain. A broadly southwesterly regime is marginally favoured bringing changeable conditions and spells of wet, windy and mild weather are likely, potentially with some very strong winds at times. However there is a chance that drier and colder conditions could extend into the UK from the east or northeast, along with a risk of some snow.