The UK is set for more Arctic conditions over the coming days and the mercury could drop to -20C under clear skies in some areas while Met Office warnings for ice and snow remain
Brits could see temperatures drop to -20C tonight in the coldest night of winter so far as an Arctic blast continues to batter the country.
Much of the UK has seen snow and major travel disruption this week while hundreds of schools have had to close due to the weather. Manchester Airport closed both its runways on Thursday morning “due to significant levels of snow” but they were later reopened. Transport for Wales closed some rail lines in the country due to track damage following a period of “heavy wind, rain and snow”.
Met Office weather warnings for ice are in place across the majority of Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as large parts of the east of England and some areas of western England, until 10am on Friday. There is also a warning for snow and ice in northern Scotland that runs until the same time tomorrow.
And the UK Health Security Agency has extended its cold weather health alert for all of England until Sunday. Amber alerts will now run until January 12, meaning a rise in deaths is likely, the agency said. Wednesday’s lowest overnight temperature was -12.4C in Inverness-shire, Scotland and that was with cloud cover, so forecasters believe that with a clear sky tonight it can drop a lot more in some areas.
BBC weather forecaster Chris Fawkes said: ” Overnight we are looking at a really widespread frost, where most people live in towns and cities you probably won’t notice much change in the temperatures, -4C to -7C, but it is across snow covered valleys in Scotland we could see temperatures plummet down to somewhere between -18C and -20C. A sharp frost, icy conditions to start the day for Friday.”
And Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: “It’s going to be another cold couple of days, and recovering into the early part of next week. Anywhere across the UK is likely to see those temperatures dipping below freezing and likely to see quite severe frost and ice to form overnight tonight.”
Freezing fog is also forecast overnight across central and south-east England, and parts of Wales. It “could be quite stubborn to clear” on Friday morning and may cling on in some areas throughout the day, Mr Eslick said, adding that parts where it lifts will be bright and sunny.
Devon and Cornwall could turn cloudy with some outbreaks of rain as a front moves towards the south-west, and Dartmoor and Exmoor are likely to see snow. There is a chance of snow across northern Scotland and possibly the very north-east of England on Friday too.
Mr Eslick said: “Because that rain is falling on some pretty cold ground, it is likely to turn to icy conditions as well. So we are telling people to take care if you are travelling around with these cold temperatures for tomorrow, but at least it’s quite settled and away from that freezing fog it will be nice, bright and sunny”.
And Friday night again could see temperatures similarly low in parts of Scotland and northern England. Mr Eslick said: “That’s probably the lowest limits that we’re … expecting, we probably don’t really expect many places to get close to minus 20C, but we could see one or two places that could just touch that mark overnight Friday into Saturday.
“Just because it’s, again, still conditions, it’s high pressure, not a lot of wind and under clear skies as well. Especially where there’s still snow on the ground across Scotland and northern England, that’s sort of a perfect scenario to see those temperatures just plummet from Friday night into Saturday morning as well.”
The weather will slowly warm as Monday nears. Mr Eslick said: “Saturday is still going to be another cold one, unfortunately.” However, clouds will come in from the west which should prevent temperatures dropping as quickly, he said.
The meteorologist added: “Sunday will still be a chilly one, but not as cold as what we’ve seen for today and for tomorrow. By Monday, we are expecting the temperatures to come back up to what we would expect for this time of year, which is around sort of 7C (or) 8C”.