An Riabhachan (Highland) weather

Headline:

Cloudy with rain to start Friday, drier spells later.

Today:

Cloudy with rain and hill snow, heavy at times, spreading northeastwards over the area. Drier and brighter spells developing in the afternoon with scattered showers. Windy at times. Maximum temperature 10 °C.

Tonight:

A mostly cloudy evening with some clear intervals and showers, which may be heavy at times. Showers still around overnight but longer dry spells developing. Windy near the coasts. Minimum temperature 4 °C.

Saturday:

Cloudy with outbreaks of mostly light rain in the morning. Through the afternoon a band of heavier and more persistent rain spread northeastwards over the area. Remaining windy at times. Maximum temperature 9 °C.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Remaining unsettled with blustery heavy showers spreading eastwards and at times longer periods of rain. However, still some dry spells with occasional brightness. Breezy throughout.

Broadly changeable during this period with Atlantic frontal systems moving across the country and shorter dry and bright interludes in-between. Rain and showers typically heaviest and most frequent in the west, with more sheltered eastern areas seeing much smaller amounts of rain. Often windy with a chance of gales at times. Temperatures well above average at first, likely falling closer to average towards the end of February and into March, perhaps briefly cold enough for some wintry showers or even snow in upland areas of the north. A very small chance of more settled weather by the end of the period.

Confidence remains low through this period. The most likely outcome is a continuation of rather changeable conditions, with low pressure systems tending to pass close to or across the UK, bringing occasional spells of wet and windy weather, especially in the north and west. High pressure to the south may build across the UK at times to bring some drier, quieter interludes, this probably most frequent in the south and east - the chances of prolonged settled weather look very low. Temperatures are likely to be near or slightly above average for the period as a whole, though some relatively short-lived interludes of colder conditions remain possible.