Arctic blast to bring first frost and snow to Scotland over October week

An Arctic wind is forecast to bring freezing temperatures below the averages for this time of year.

It means the first snow of the season could fall in rural parts of Scotland with temperatures down to -4C after record-breaking rainfall caused flooding last weekend.

This weekend the low pressure that has been dominating our weather over the past few days is clearing away to the north east.

It means things will be settling down just a little, with high pressure taking charge. We will see various frontal systems crossing the country from time to time, but generally we’ll have a mixture of sunshine and scattered showers over Saturday and Sunday.

Got that #FridayFeeling and making plans for the #weekend?

🥶 You may want to dig out the winter duvet 👇 pic.twitter.com/uiqYUFnGUe
— Met Office (@metoffice) October 13, 2023

Through Friday night though we started to see winds picking up strength, with severe gales likely around Orkney and Shetland, and gusts of up to 70mph.

Along with this we will continue to see a steady stream of blustery showers feeding in from the north west. Some of these showers will be turning wintry over higher ground with snow falling to around 500m.

For Saturday, it will be another dry and bright start for the majority, plenty of sunshine around through the morning, but showers still continue to move in from the north.

Again, falling as snow above 400-500m, but for Shetland and Orkney the snow levels drop tomorrow, meaning we could see some flakes down to lower levels. Not unusual for mid October, but still a shock when we hear any mention of snow.

The best of any drier and brighter conditions will be further east where we will see plenty of autumnal sunshine.

Any showers on Sunday turn less wintry, and after a chilly and frosty start to the day it will remain chilly through the afternoon with highs of around 9C.

High pressure sticks around for the first half of the new working week, with low pressure returning by Wednesday, bringing with it wetter and windier conditions once again.