IMPORTANT : ARCHIVED CONTENT

Sunday begins dry in most of the UK and locally in the north there has been a touch of frost. Through the day sunny spells develop but quite a lot of cloud may remain in the south east. There will be scattered showers but many places miss them.

Arpege 00z, forecast cloud cover, 16:00 BST Sun 25th March

Maximum temperatures range from 7C (45F) in the north west to 13C (55F) in central and eastern England. See the recently upgraded rainfall and precipitation type radar for the latest view.

This evening the showers fade away to leave a dry night. Clear spells lead to quite a widespread frost.

Tomorrow starts bright and chilly. Cloud will build from the west and in the afternoon outbreaks of rain spread across Northern Ireland, Wales and south western England. Elsewhere it stays mostly dry during the day but wet and windy weather extends northeastwards overnight.

Arpege 00z, forecast precipitation, 16:00 BST Mon 26th March

Through Tuesday it turns drier in much of the the country but it remains wet in Scotland. Over the Scottish mountains snow is likely.

The run up to Easter

By Wednesday a rather cold and showery air stream covers all of the UK. In the north and west the showers turn wintry, and over northern hills there could be significant snowfall.

Through the second half of the week areas of low pressure keep the unsettled theme in place. Most computer models are now showing low pressure remaining close to southern Britain as we head into the Easter period. That would bring cool and wet weather to the south with the coldest conditions in the north.

This morning's ECM 00z run has backed away from the colder scenario it has favoured in recent days. The operational run keeps low pressure close to the UK during the Easter weekend. As a result cold air from the north east only really affects Scotland. This pattern would bring cool and at times wet conditions to much of the country with snow restricted to the north.

ECM 00z, surface pressure and 850hPa temperatures, 00:00 GMT Fri 30th March

Ensemble models which are used to identify the likelihood of different outcomes suggest below average temperatures and unsettled conditions are highly probable for much of the Easter period.

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Global Forecast System (GFS) forecast charts

16 day GEFS ensembles at a glance

After a mildish start upper level air temperatures dip to just below the 30 year average for a few days. Next week a wide range of outcomes is shown but colder than average conditions are likely during Easter and the early part of April. View latest GEFS.