... and back here, autumn turns to snow overnight
SUMMER may have hung around well into September – but parts of the country appear to have missed out on autumn altogether and instead been plunged straight into winter.
Incredible images from yorkshire showed streets and pavements blanketed in white after freak thunderstorms brought hail and even snow.
After ‘bleak’ northerly winds brought the coldest September night in 23 years, a chilly weekend is likely to see many of us giving in and switching on the central heating.
In a far cry from the glorious Indian Summer which saw Southern England reach a balmy 26C (79F) earlier in the week, commuters around West yorkshire watched with astonishment on Thursday evening as storms created an unseasonal winter wonderland.
In a reference to a world already rocked by the pandemic, Ian Cormack described the scenes as ‘peak 2020’ after his usual 30minute trip home from work took three times as long. The roads were full of sleet, snow and hail, I had to divert and go a longer way round,’ he said. ‘It was pretty shocking to be honest. When I left keighley at 4.30 it was fine but when I got to Ilkley Moor, there was a storm and it was three degrees.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it in September. It’s just typical of this year, it’s peak 2020.’ parts of Leeds were hit by a freak storm which saw ‘hail the size of golf balls’. Thunder and lightning also hit parts of the city. Forecasters said the storms had been generated by warm air as the ground was heated by sunshine earlier in the week.
Temperatures plummeted across much of the north on Thursday, with Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands recording -5C (23F) – making it the Uk’s coldest September night since 1997. Clear skies expected over the weekend are forecast to bring more chilly conditions and even overnight frosts in some rural areas, although southern areas should still reach a mild 16C (61F) in the sunshine.
Met Office forecaster Alex Deakin predicted ‘a cold wind blowing’ today with further showers threatening the south east before temperatures again plummet below zero again for some.