IT IS the first weekend of meteorological winter - and isn't the weather letting us know about it.

Towns across Gwent have started the month with a real chill - and it is not going to get any warmer on the first December weekend.

The Met Office has forecasted highs of just four degrees tomorrow, Saturday, December 2, with temperatures hitting minus two degrees in Newport tonight.

Bizarrely, the warmest part of Saturday will be 11pm onwards – a toasty four degrees, climbing to five degrees by 3pm, Sunday, December 3.

This slight increase coincides with a greater chance of precipitation – an umbrella term, if you'll pardon the pun, which includes rain, sleet, snow, hail and drizzle.

There is a 50 per cent chance of precipitation in Newport between 10pm Saturday and the early hours of Sunday.

Rain is also likely at around midday and 9pm Sunday.

Will there be snow this weekend?

The Met Office has described the weather in Wales today as a “cold but mainly dry first day of meteorological winter”.

Temperatures are set to plummet this evening with a sharp frost developing inland and freezing fog patches in the east.

People in Monmouth will need to get their blankets at the ready, with temperatures of minus four degrees overnight. People in the west, however, can look forward to wintry showers.

Minimum temperatures in Wales tonight will be minus seven degrees.

From Sunday to Tuesday, December 5, that “cold but mainly dry” start to the month is set to become more unsettled with spells of rain, and perhaps hill snow, moving eastwards.

You can check the weather forecast for the next 24 hours in your part of Gwent with this interactive map.

It will turn milder but that chilly feeling is not going any time soon.

In Cwmbran, temperatures will fall to minus three degrees tonight, rising to just three degrees over the course of Saturday.

Chepstow has an even colder forecast with highs of just two degrees, while in Abergavenny it will take until midday for temperatures to return to positive figures.