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Saturday begins mostly dry in Scotland and southern counties of England but elsewhere there are heavy outbreaks of rain. Through the day wet weather continues pushing northwards into Scotland and more rain spreads up from the southwest. Over the Scottish mountains it remains cold enough for snow. This afternoon it should become drier again in southern counties and a few sunny spells could develop.

Arpege 00z, forecast precipitation type, 15:00 GMT Sat 10th March

Temperatures range from 4C (39F) in Scotland to 12C (54F) in the south. See the rainfall and precipitation type radar for the latest view.

Tonight the wet weather slowly moves away northwards. As skies begin to clear temperatures will drop and a patchy frost is likely in central and northern regions. In the south west heavy showers could return by the end of the night.

Tomorrow begins mostly dry but during the day heavy showery bursts of rain extend over much of southern and central Britain. Temperatures in the south will be similar to today's but in the north it will be milder than recently.

Could cold weather still return?

During the first half of next week the weather is expected to be unsettled with further spells of rain. Beyond that there are indications of high pressure building to the north and east of the UK, and that could lead to the return of colder conditions. If that happened temperatures would not be as low as they were in late February but widespread nighttime frosts and disruptive snow would be a possibility. 

The chart below from the American GFS model shows forecast temperatures at about 1500m above sea level  on Wednesday 21st March. The blues and purples indicate a very cold air mass.

GFS 00z, 850hPa temperatures, 00:00 GMT ed 21st March

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