From Glowvember... to Snowvember
THIS month had been dubbed ‘Glowvember’ as unusually warm weather brought such unseasonal sights as mallard ducklings and blooming delphiniums.
But winter suddenly descended with a vengeance yesterday, with Britain waking up to freezing temperatures – and picture postcard scenes of snowfall.
Temperatures plunged to -4.7C (23.5F) in Tulloch Bridge in the Scottish Highlands on Saturday morning. Sheep in the Pennines were photographed covered in drifts, and families in Scotland played in the snow.
The Met Office issued a yellow warning for wind and snow for most of England and Scotland, with gusts of up to 70mph expected along the eastern coast. And the A169 between Whitby and Pickering in North Yorkshire was closed because of the dangerous weather conditions.
With temperatures dropping, the Highways Agency, which is responsible for motorways and trunk roads, confirmed it was sending out gritting trucks across the UK; while local councils have stockpiled 1.2million tons of rock salt to tackle winter conditions on smaller roads, the Local Government Association said, insisting authorities were ready.
Non-league football fans were also affected by the cold, with matches cancelled at Braintree Town, Essex, and Maidenhead, Berkshire
Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said: ‘We are looking at in getting to freezing or maybe a little bit higher in the big cities, but it will be colder – around -3C (26.6F) or so – in more rural areas.
‘We’ve had snow, and while in places like West Wales and Cornwall it won’t stay, it could well stick in more mountainous areas. We’re expecting that some glens in Scot- land could fall to -8C (17.6F), although that will be fairly isolated.’
The cold spell encouraged bookmaker William Hill to slash its odds on the lowest ever November temperature being recorded from 12/1 down into 8/1. However, Mr Snell said the cold snap should not last for too long.
He explained: ‘We had warmer weather a little while ago because the wind was coming from a southwesterly direction, and the change in temperatures has taken place because it’s now coming from the north, and we’re getting the cold weather down from the Arctic.
‘By Monday afternoon it will have gone round to coming from the West, so while it won’t be as warm as it was last week, but it will be milder than it is now.’
The current cold weather follows on from an unusually mild start of the month, with average daytime temperatures ten degrees above the seasonal average.
The average temperature for this time of November is 8C (46.4F), and St Mary’s on Isles of Scilly, was the only weather station in the UK to record higher than that yesterday.
On mainland Britain, the highest temperature was 7.4C (45.3F), recorded at Camborne, Cornwall.