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Thursday begins with a band of heavy rain stretched across Northern Ireland, Wales and much of southern England. Through the day the wet weather pushes into north eastern England and southern Scotland. Behind it brighter conditions return but further spells of showery rain develop in the south west. Northern Scotland remains mostly dry.

Arpege 00z, precipitation type, 16:00 GMT Thu 15th March

Temperatures range from 4C (39F) in Scotland to 13C (55F) in the south. See the rainfall and precipitation type radar for the latest view.

Tonight wet weather continues in the north east and there will be snow over the hills. Showery rain in the south west spreads into Wales and central areas by the end of the night.

Tomorrow rain increasingly turns to snow in the north east as colder air filters in from the east. In southern and central Britain it stays showery and mild.

Snow risk this weekend

During Friday night patchy outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow spread southwestwards as a bitterly cold east or northeasterly flow begins to set-up across the UK. The pattern is similar to the one which brought the late February freeze hence the term "Beast from the East 2.0" or "Beast from the East Part Deux".

The cold conditions this weekend will be unusually intense for the time of year and there is the potential for disruptive snow. On Saturday snow showers are expected to become increasingly heavy in the east and south east. Despite the strength of the sun accumulations are very possible.

On Saturday night and through Sunday snow showers continue and they may becomes more widespread and heavy. In the south there is a risk of more prolonged periods of snow for a time.  

The DWD ICON precipitation type forecast chart below is for midnight on Saturday.

ICON 00z, forecast precipitation, 00:00 GMT Sun 18th March

Despite it being the second half of March daytime temperatures are likely to hover around 0C (32F) in much of the UK with ice days possible even in parts of the south.

Next week the cold eases

Early next week high pressure is expected to slowly sink southwards across the UK. Initially it remains cold with widespread and sharp nighttime frosts. By the middle of the week milder air from the southwest gradually begins to return.

The ECM forecast chart below shows a wedge of milder air (indicated by yellow and orange shading) beginning to push in from the west by Wednesday. 

ECM 00z, 850hPa temperatures, 00:00 GMT Wed 21st March

Spring forecast

The TWO seasonal forecast covering the meteorological spring (March, April, May) has been issued. The monthly update for March is also online.

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Forecast tools

Check the latest satellite images, computer model charts and rain radar:

1981 - 2010 daily temperature charts [NEW]

Temperature anomalies [NEW]

DWD ICON forecast charts [NEW]

EUMETSAT high resolution satellite images [NEW]

Rain and precipitation type radar

Meteo France Arpege forecast charts

Global Forecast System (GFS) forecast charts

16 day GEFS ensembles at a glance

Bitterly cold weather returns by 17th March and then temperatures gradually recover. During the last week of the month more changeable conditions are favoured. View latest GEFS.