Finally – warming up by mid-month
Winter has really been digging its heels in hard this year – reluctant to relinquish the firm grip it has had on us since January. Provisionally, last month was the coldest March since 1962, with much of the country blanketed by late-season snow.
When I took a trip to the Peak District last week to do a live report for the program, the landscape resembled a winter wonderland, with around a foot of snow still lying on the ground in places.
Thousands of homes were left without power for almost a week and transport severely disrupted. However, one of the hardest hit sectors has been agriculture. Farmers have lost thousands of livestock (mainly sheep) that have been buried in deep drifts of snow.
For weeks on end, people in the newsroom and on the street have been asking me when it’s going to warm up. Finally, I have some good news to share with you.
Jet stream heading north
In previous blogs, I mentioned that the jet stream through much of March has been much further south than usual.
As a result, the wind, rain and milder air that we would normally see in early spring have been affecting Iberia, the Mediterranean and northern Africa instead.
This has meant that the UK and much of northern Europe has been stuck under a huge blocking area of high pressure – continually feeding very cold air westwards over the continent.
However, during the next ten days, there’s going to be a big change in the weather pattern. The jet stream is going head northwards to where is should be at this time of year, bringing a return to more typical spring weather.
A gradual warm up
The rest of this week will see a good deal of dry weather for most places, accompanied by some sunshine. It’ll still feel cold though in a brisk east to northeast wind.
Temperatures will reach 4-9C by day, but still fall a few degrees below freezing at night, with widespread frosts.
Next week will see step one of the change, with low pressure bringing wind, rain and milder air off the Atlantic.
Temperatures by this stage will reach 7-13C and night time frosts will be much less likely.
The second step of the change is likely around 14th April, when high pressure may build across a large swathe of the UK. With light winds, milder air and some sunshine, temperatures could reach 15-20C.
So, following a winter that never seemed to end, spring may finally be sprung properly in two weeks time. In the meantime, I’ll be posting regular updates here on my blog, as well as on Twitter – @liamdutton