Northern Ireland weather: Last days of meteorological winter to be 'cold and cloudy with scattered showers'

According to the Met Office ‘the meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each’.

These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.

‘By the meteorological calendar, spring will always start on 1 March; ending on 31 May,’ says the Met Office.

Today Met Office spokesmen say there is the ‘best chance on any limited dry and bright weather across the southeast through late morning’.

They add it will become ‘quite breezy in the afternoon, particularly for Fermanagh’ and there will be a maximum temperature of 7 °C.

Tonight is forecast to be ‘cloudy with scattered showers at first, becoming gradually drier and clearer through the evening’.

Forecaster’s add that it will be ‘mostly dry with clear spells overnight, a few showers in the northwest’ and a minimum temperature 2 °C.

And tomorrow (Thursday) is forecast to be ‘largely dry with bright or sunny spells’, ‘the odd shower breaking out through the afternoon’.

There will be a maximum temperature of 9 °C.

And the outlook for Friday to Sunday is ‘dry with sunny spells on Friday’, ‘cloud and rain Saturday morning, becoming dry and brighter later’.

Sunday is forecast to be ‘dry but increasingly breezy’ with ‘rain spreading east through the late evening’.

Meanwhile, Met Office spokesperson Andrea Bishop said ‘the average mean temperature for Northern Ireland in February is 5°C’.

And looking further on, the long range forecast for Sunday 2 Mar - Tuesday 11 Mar is: ‘A split in weather conditions is likely across the country for the start of spring.

‘Northwestern areas will see bouts of rain and stronger winds as Atlantic weather systems arrive from the west.

‘These spells of wet and windy weather will move southeast to some degree at times.

‘However, high pressure is likely to have more influence across the south of the UK, at least at first.

‘Here, there should be a good deal of fine/dry weather during early March with a chance of night frosts and morning fog patches.

‘Through the course of this period there is an increasing chance of unsettled conditions becoming more dominant across the UK.

‘Temperatures generally around average, notwithstanding some chilly nights, though with milder interludes likely.’