North suffers three weeks without sun - when will it return?

The sun disappeared from the skies over Aberdeen on January 21 – and hasn’t been seen since.

That’s almost three weeks without a single glimmer of sunlight or a break in the clouds.

But thankfully, the end of this bleak stretch is finally in sight.

The stubborn high pressure sitting over Scandinavia for weeks – the one that’s been funnelling cold easterly winds into Scotland – is starting to shift.

That means winds will begin to vary instead of coming solely from the east… and, yes, the sun is on its way back.

By this weekend, the UK will be under west to south-westerly winds, which will finally break up the cloud.

Eastern Scotland can look forward to Saturday being the sunniest day in weeks.

To add to the woeful weather headlines for Aberdeen – after an extremely wet January and nearly daily rain for weeks, the little hamlet of Durris could be on course for its wettest February on record.

In just the first eight days of February, Durris has already seen 179mm of rain – more than double the 84mm normally expected for the whole month, with three weeks still to go. Astounding.

Other Aberdeenshire towns including Aboyne, Dyce, Fettercairn, Fyvie, and Inverbervie are also leading the rainfall tables so far this month.

On the brighter side for skiers, the eastern Grampians are still seeing epic snowfalls, with ski centres piling up snow after some huge dumps over the past month.

Looking ahead, we will get occasional breaks in the rain as weather fronts can finally move across the country rather than getting stuck in the northeast.

That said, when rain does fall, eastern Scotland could still see some of the heaviest falls, thanks to low pressure systems tracking further south.

So, while further spells of rain are likely over the coming weeks, I’m sure anyone in Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire will just be happy to catch a glimpse of the sun when it finally returns.