Lerwick (Shetland Islands) weather

Headline:

Dry and bright start with snow showers later.

Today:

Dry in the morning with bright spells and quite breezy at first but winds gradually falling lighter. Cloudier in the afternoon with a few snow showers spreading from the northwest. Cold. Maximum temperature 3 °C.

Tonight:

Cloudy evening for Shetland with snow becoming persistent for a time, becoming dry overnight with clear spells. Clear spells at first for Orkney, cloudier later with perhaps the odd shower. Minimum temperature -1 °C.

Wednesday:

Mainly dry and cold with bright spells or some hazy sunshine but the chance of a few snow showers, mainly across Shetland. Maximum temperature 4 °C.

Outlook for Thursday to Saturday:

Mainly dry on Thursday, rain spreading east in evening. Windy with further rain spreading east on Friday. Showers or longer spells of rain on Saturday.

Quite changeable as Atlantic frontal systems track near or across the UK at times, bringing spells of rain, heaviest and most prolonged over high ground in the west and/or northwest, with comparatively small accumulations in more sheltered eastern and southeastern areas. It will often be quite breezy or windy, the strongest winds typically in the west or northwest. With a west or southwesterly flow tending to dominate, temperatures will likely be near or above average much of the time, especially over this weekend with some very mild conditions expected before a gradual downward trend through the final week of February back closer to average.

This period may start of predominantly settled, with high pressure close by to the UK. However the orientation of any anticyclone and its location relative to the UK is much more uncertain, which has knock-on effects on the type of weather we can expect. Towards mid March, there are indications that more generally changeable conditions of Atlantic origin may develop once more, with a return to spells of wind and rain at times.