Coat on, coat off... yo-yo weather has Britain in a spin
January should traditionally see us in deep midwinter, but instead we are seemingly locked in a period of yo-yo weather, with temperatures up and the sun out one day, and then the next it is all rain clouds and chill breezes. And that is the way it looks set to stay for most of the week ahead.
Yesterday it was the turn of milder air to stream in from the south, albeit with a bit of a wind wrapped up in its midst, and suddenly winter coats felt almost superfluous, save in Scotland and Northern Ireland where the next cold, wet front was already arriving from the north and west. Overnight, that front has worked its way south eastwards, over the whole country, and so most of us will wake this morning to rain. It shouldn’t stick around for too long. Behind it, a mix of sunshine and showers awaits.
The (relatively for January) hot spots will also be on the move. Yesterday it was Scotland that registered the highest temperatures. Today, it is most of southern England, South Wales and East Anglia, touching 11C (52F), while up in Edinburgh and Aberdeen the mercury will be down at just 6C (43F).
As we head back tomorrow to work, school and college, the fall-and-rise momentum continues. As the cold and wet front is finally dispatched to Europe, there will be another dry, mild interlude as warmer air heads in from the south. But by evening, the next low-pressure system is lining up in the Atlantic, with Tuesday seeing driving rain and wind carried our way by what is currently a strong and active Jet Stream.
Don’t expect the pattern to be broken any time soon, but the forecasts are showing some chance of something more settled by the end of the week.
Peter Stanford