The UK is bracing itself for a frosty weekend accompanied by cold air from the Arctic, the Met Office has said.

Forecasters have warned that more wintry conditions and chilly weather will mean most people in the UK will require a thick coat over the next couple of days. Saturday is expected to be the wettest day of the weekend, particularly for parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The rain will be pushed into areas in northern England throughout the afternoon and showers and sunny spells are expected elsewhere.

On Saturday, highs of about 7C to 8C are expected in parts of Scotland, 12C in northern England and Northern Ireland, while southern England is forecast to enjoy the warmest temperatures of up to 16C.

Sunday morning will be off to a chilly start with temperatures as low as -4C to -6C in some sheltered parts of Scotland and frost is possible in rural areas in northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales, according to the Met Office.

Temperatures in southern England are forecast to be between 7C to 10C that day, considerably lower than the October average of about 15C. Scotland will also be colder than usual, with temperatures of 5C to 6C, about half of what is expected for this time of year, the forecaster added.

The Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: “For everyone we’re going to be feeling rather cold. Over the last day or so we have drawn in quite a bit of cold air from the Arctic and that is sort of staying with us right throughout the weekend, so most of us will need a little bit of a coat on at times.”

Cloud cover on Friday night also largely ruled out a repeat of the aurora borealis that was spotted over parts of the UK on Thursday evening.

Vautrey added: “For everyone, whilst it will be drier than Saturday, it is certainly going to be feeling quite cold out, there [will be] sunshine around at times.

“The best of the brightness is going to be further towards the east – eastern Scotland, eastern England, with cloud generally building from the west as we head throughout the day and there is the potential that we do start to see a little bit more rain arrive for Northern Ireland into the evening period, and that sort of heralds return to slightly more unsettled conditions as we head into the start of the new week.”