Presenting a Met Office Deep Dive forecast on YouTube, meteorologist Alex Burkill delivered his verdict on the weather – and managed to take aim at Arsenal and both Manchester clubs
A cheeky Met Office meteorologist made a scathing dig at Arsenal in his YouTube forecast video – comparing the drop in temperatures to the Gunners’ dip in form.
Alex Burkill, presenting the weather service’s weekly Deep Dive feature, explored the change in temperatures this week, which have been mild lately but will fall in the coming days. It was a glorious 13C in Swanage, Dorset, on Tuesday, but just 4C is expected on Saturday in North Yorkshire. It could feel even colder – akin to an Arctic chill – due to the strong winds.
It will be well below average for the time of year across the country, even in the south where the mercury will dip to 6C in Kent and 7C across parts of Southwest England.
Mr Burkill took the change as an opportunity to mock Arsenal, who this week dropped points – losing 1-0 at home to West Ham United in the Premier League – just like temperatures are dropping. The meteorologist put up a chart illustrating the temperature changes – and it happened to be at Arsenal FC.
He says: “I’ve picked Arsenal FC again. I have a habit of doing that, but I was meant to pick London, but nonetheless. So here are our temperatures, and the point that I wanted to show is that it is getting colder as we go towards, well, Thursday, Friday and into the weekend.
If we look at the minimum temperatures, you can see dropping down, well… Arsenal dropping some points as we go into the weekend. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this weekend.”
The chart shows it could be as cold as just 2C in that area of north London on Friday. However, Arsenal are not playing this weekend, having been eliminated from the FA Cup by Manchester United in January.
But both Man United and Man City aren’t spared cheeky jibes in the forecast either. Mr Burkill goes on to share a graphic of the anticipated temperature change in Middleton, a town strictly speaking in Rochdale but within the Greater Manchester conurbation and only six miles from the Etihad Stadium and around nine from Old Trafford.
Mr Burkill adds: “Oh, okay… They’re picking up some points this weekend. Let’s hope that’s not the case. But my point being there’s some colder air… You can see that there is a drop in temperatures as we go through Friday into Saturday.”
The nod is a reference to the misfortunes of Manchester United, currently 15th in the Premier League, and the struggles of champions Manchester City, who are fifth and 20 points behind leaders Liverpool after defeat to The Reds on Sunday. City, unlike Liverpool, do have FA Cup action this weekend as they host Plymouth Argyle, who dumped Arne Slot’s side out of the competition.
The point about the temperatures, though, is a significant one – as they will remain cold, especially across Northwest England, throughout Sunday too. The mercury could tumble to 3C in rural Cumbria on Sunday afternoon.
Saturday heralds the start of meteorological spring but temperatures won’t reach typical early March levels for most until Tuesday or Wednesday. In contrast, the mercury could rise next week to 14C as far north as Leeds and possibly even 15C across East of England by the end of next week.
It means parts of England could potentially be warmer than Madrid very soon. Forecast for the Spanish capital also show rain across the end of the next week, whereas no showers are forecast across the UK during this spell.
