Hope for bright white snow to lift the gloom
IT’S the gloom that gets you down under this dense cloud cover of early January, with sunshine on ration
Next to mudslides in California, snow in the Sahara, Tarmac-melting heat in Sydney, and Tropical Cyclone Joyce doing her damnedest in western Australia, all reported this week, our weather worries are, of course, nothing much to write home about.
But for those quietly hoping for a bit of brightness to enliven the new year, there is not much on the horizon. Yesterday’s active weather front, which brought wind and rain into Northern Ireland, western Scotland and Wales, rather peters out today.
The downpours will become occasional showers, but the cloud cover remains. The best temperatures will be down in the south-west corner of England, with Plymouth up at 50F (10C) under the influence of milder south-westerly breezes, but elsewhere it is a dull 45F (7C) in London, Glasgow and Belfast, and a brisk 41F (5C) in Norwich and Newcastle.
Up in the north-west of Scotland, though, a fresh weather front is blowing in from the Atlantic. By Monday morning it will be sweeping over much of the UK, making it a wet, windy and grey, gloomy start to the working week. From Tuesday there will be a very different feel. Any lingering influence of high pressure on the UK will depart as we find ourselves on the cold side of the jet stream. And so prepare yourself for a polar plunge as the mercury plummets and the winds rush in from the Arctic.
There will be wintry showers on high ground, especially in Scotland, and they could be more widespread yet. At least a covering of bright white snow might illuminate the gloom.