Wrap up! First frosts of the autumn tonight
OPTIMISTIC sun lovers might be reluctant to pack away their summer outfits – but this weekend will bring a marked change in the weather as the first autumnal frosts arrive.
The remnants of Hurricane Dorian are expected to bring wet and windy conditions by mid-week, but the Met Office predicted a ‘good outlook’ for the weekend with spells of sunshine in most places.
However, there will be a fresher feel, with highs of 19- 20C ( 66- 68F) in southern England today and tomorrow.
It will be cooler further north, with the maximum temperatures in Manchester reaching 16- 17C ( 61- 63F). Meanwhile, gardeners in the north of England and Wales should prepare for the first frosts of autumn tonight.
Oli Claydon, of the Met Office, said: ‘saturday night into sunday is likely to be clear with still air, meaning frost is likely in rural areas and high ground in northern England and north Wales.
‘Even further south it is likely to be chilly, with temperatures as low as 5C (41F).’
A band of rain is expected to move into scotland and Northern Ireland late tomorrow, crossing England and Wales on Monday. A brief ridge of high pressure is due to bring more fine and dry weather on Tuesday before the remnants of Hurricane Dorian move in.
The hurricane, which caused devastation in the Bahamas before moving north to batter the coasts of south and North Carolina in the Us, will lose much of its energy and degrade into normal low pressure as it crosses the Atlantic.
It is due to pass closer to Iceland than the UK but Mr Claydon said: ‘By the middle of the week, we are due to have some wet and windy conditions associated with that low pressure system, although we are not looking at anything exceptional at this stage.’
In its longer-range forecast from Wednesday and on towards the end of the month, the Met Office says: ‘The weather through the remainder of the week is likely to stay rather changeable.
‘There will be periods of rain, interspersed with occasional drier and brighter interludes, these most prolonged in the south.
‘It will often be windy, especially in the North, where there will be gales at times.’
Forecasters say the weather is likely to ‘feel quite autumnal’ with chilly nights.
A BRITISH man saved his wife’s life from more than 4,000 miles away by guiding rescuers to where she lay trapped in the Bahamas.
The elderly woman, who had been buried under rubble for up to four days after Hurricane Dorian tore through the islands last Sunday, was found only after her husband phoned the crew of a British ship and directed them to her.
As a Bahamian government minister said ‘thousands’ of people were still missing after the category 5 storm, the dramatic rescue saw the team on board RFA Mounts Bay – an auxiliary ship staffed by civilians and members of the Royal Navy – use a Google Maps reference sent by the husband.
The team flew to the co- ordinates and found the woman trapped in the home where she had been staying. She was briefly treated aboard Mounts Bay, where she was reportedly in a ‘poor and deteriorating condition’, before being flown to hospital.
The woman’s identity has not been made public. Her panicked husband, believed to be based in Chichester, West Sussex, made the call on Wednesday, and a team was immediately dispatched on a Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter.
Details of the extraordinary rescue operation were revealed by Captain Rob Anders, whose team also saved an American woman and her three children, including a seven-week- old baby suffering from sepsis. Captain Anders said: ‘It was a good day for the ship, the ship made a massive difference.’ He added: ‘Bizarrely enough, the partner of the individual managed to ring the radio room. He rang and asked to speak to someone. He said he had not heard from his wife for close to five days. He had heard that she was under rubble.
‘He gave us a position from Google Maps. We converted the position he gave us into latitude and longitude. We launched the helicopter and we found her.’
The dramatic rescue happened on the island of Great Abaco, one of the worst hit by the storm, where the Mounts Bay crew have been working around the clock to deliver supplies such as shelter kits, hygiene kits and water.
Captain Anders described a scene of ‘great tragedy’ on the island. A large shanty town, home to many on the Abaco islands and known as The Mudd, ‘does not exist any more’.
It came as the Bahamian health minister warned the final death toll, which currently stands at 30, would be ‘staggering’. Dr Duane Sands said hundreds if not thousands were still missing. ‘The public needs to prepare for unimaginable information about the death toll and the human suffering.’
He called it the Bahamas’ ‘Katrina moment’, referencing the 2005 hurricane which killed 1,833 people in the US states. Dorian has lost speed since moving to the US coast, where it has caused flooding and widespread power outages.