Outlook

HEADLINE: Turning progressively colder through the coming week with an increasing chance of frost and icy patches and the potential for some wintry precipitation at times. MONDAY NIGHT: Mainly dry with light northerly or variable winds. A widespread frost setting in with lowest temperatures of -2 to +2 degrees with icy patches possible. Patchy mist and fog also. TUESDAY: Any mist, fog and frost will gradually clear through Tuesday morning to leave a dry day with plenty of sunshine for most. A few showers are possible along northern and northwestern coasts. Cloud will increase in western and northwestern counties towards evening. Afternoon highs will range 5 to 8 degrees in light, variable breezes. Dry and cold with a mix of cloud and clear spells for most on Tuesday night. Cloudier and milder conditions near Atlantic coasts, however, with outbreaks of rain and drizzle developing overnight. Lowest air temperatures of -2 to +3 degrees, with frost and icy patches. Light southerly or variable breezes will allow mist and fog patches to form. WEDNESDAY: Wednesday will be a cloudier day overall with showers or longer spells of rain. Mist and fog could be quite slow to clear in the morning. Maximum temperatures will range 4 to 7 degrees generally, coldest in Ulster. Winds will be light and variable in direction. Outbreaks of rain in the west and south will gradually clear southwards on Wednesday night with colder clearer conditions following from the north. Minimum temperatures will fall to between -2 and +2 degrees. Showers will develop on northern and northwestern coasts towards morning, some heavy with a risk of hail and sleet. Winds will be light to moderate northerly. THURSDAY: Thursday looks set to be a rather chilly day. Plenty of sunshine indicated over the western half of the country, but cloudier periods further east with scattered showers, mainly in northern and eastern coastal counties. Some of the showers could be wintry in nature, especially about higher terrain. Afternoon highs of just 2 to 6 degrees in light to moderate northerly winds, freshening on coasts later. FRIDAY and NEXT WEEKEND: Current indications suggest a good deal of dry and bright weather in a cold northerly airflow for the first few days of meteorological winter, with scattered showers mainly confined to northern, western and eastern coasts. Uncertainty increases from Sunday, however.