Chilly days and frosty nights make a comeback
The first fortnight of 2012 has felt more like spring than winter across the UK. A mild south westerly wind has brought remarkable warmth for all places, with temperatures well above average by day and by night.
The past seven days has seen maximum temperatures above 10C in the UK, with five of those days reaching 13C. Frost has also been a rarity, with some parts of the UK yet to experience a decent frost this winter.
This, however, is about to change, with colder air pushing southwards across the UK during Thursday. Through the weekend as high pressure sits across us, most places will see plenty of sunshine by day, but at night there’ll be widespread frosts.
On Twitter over the past week, there’s been a flurry of tweets on how plants have been fooled by this remarkable warmth, with daffodils and other flowers blossoming.
Unfortunately they are likely to get a shock as temperatures widely fall below freezing for the next few nights, with some places falling to around -5C (23F).
Although the weather will be very quiet, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be any hazards. There’s a chance of some dense freezing fog forming in places. It’s not expected to be a widespread problem, but where it does form it could linger and visibility will be significantly reduced.
The next question you’re probably pondering over is will there be any snow? Well, in a nutshell no. High pressure means that apart from the far west of the UK, where there could be a little drizzle, the white stuff will remain elusive.
However, in my blog just a few days ago, I explained that the second half of the month looks set to be colder than the first half.
This still looks to be the case, but the weather computer models are no clearer in suggesting when any notably cold weather will arrive on our shores. As soon as they do, I’ll be sure to let you know!
One thing that is certain over the next few days is that there’ll be opportunities for taking some great photographs. Sunsets and sunrises should be particularly colourful.
Please tweet me any pictures that you take to @liamdutton and I’ll make a feature gallery of the best ones early next week on the Channel 4 News website. Don’t forget to include your name as well as when and where it was taken.
Enjoy the sunshine!