WE’LL SLEET AGAIN
More floods and snow but Costas bake in record January heatwave
BRITAIN is braced for more snow and flooding this week — while expats sunbathe in record temperatures on the Spanish Costas.
Up to eight inches of snow is expected to fall in parts of the UK next week as temperatures drop in places to -15C compared to nearly 30C in Spain.
More than 80 flood warnings and 240 alerts were issued yesterday across almost all regions of the UK.
Weather warnings for snow, ice and rain remain in force today and the cold conditions will move further north, with the potential for 20cm of snow in places before midweek, the Met Office said.
Meteorologist Simon Partridge said: “We’ve got this band of rain, sleet and snow moving across much of England and Wales that is a real messy mix.”
The picture varied across the country yesterday, with much of Devon and Cornwall under a yellow warning for rain, with as much as 25mm predicted.
Other southern areas were wet, but further north it was sleet, rain and hill snow triggering flood warnings.
In Tirley, Gloucestershire, yesterday, firefighters used high-volume pumps to tackle flooding in a residential street.
Locals in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, were on alert with the nearby River Nene having risen and left roads blocked with unpassable flood water.
As the rain and sleet moves overnight, the risk of ice persists, with central England and Wales facing a further yellow weather warning today. Temperatures
will drop as low as -6C overnight in England, and potentially as low as -15C in some parts of Scotland.
But in sunny Spain, the Costa Blanca city of Alicante recorded its highest-ever temperature for a January day – less than three weeks after a cold snap brought its lowest temperatures in 20 years. Locals and expats sunbathed as if it were summer, as temperatures reached an astonishing 29.8C on Friday.
Back in the UK, tomorrow and Tuesday will be chilly but settled.
Mr Partridge said: “It gets a bit more interesting as we go into Tuesday and
the middle of the week. A band of much heavier rain to arrive overnight on Monday into Tuesday will quickly turn to snow as it bumps up against cold air.”
Northern England and parts of Wales could see snow “pretty much anywhere”. The highest areas could get “up to 20cm or so though the course of the day” and Mr Partridge predicted trans-Pennine routes in particular could have issues on Tuesday.
The same band of wintry weather will move northwards, with the central belt of Scotland likely to be hit.