Arctic freeze spells nightmare before Christmas
Well, it’s definitely wintry, which will further encourage dreams of a white Christmas, but the reality of very cold air dominating for seven – or even 10 – days, with frosty nights and freezing fog to wake up to, might be regarded by many as more of a nightmare.
It will certainly cast a chill over our preparations for the festive season.
What wind we have is bitter, flowing down from the Arctic. Even if the sun shines during the day, it is at its weakest as we approach the shortest day so can do little to warm us up.
This morning begins much as yesterday had ended. So the Arctic air mass is still dominant, with slowmoving low pressure close to the North Sea coast and snow falling in some coastal areas.
There is so little breeze, you should prepare yourself when you open the curtains for dense freezing fog in patches almost anywhere. It won’t be in any hurry to disperse.
When it does, there will be less sunshine than of late, so temperatures really are going to struggle to improve much on freezing. Cornwall and Devon will fare best, rising to the dizzy heights of 7C (45F). Most other places will do no better than 3C (37F) though Belfast might manage 4C (39F).
Tomorrow brings little respite. A different bank of low pressure to the south-west will nudge up towards southern England and try to break the stranglehold of the Arctic air mass.
How successful it will be remains to be seen, but if the warmer air it brings comes into contact with the existing cold, there may be sleet and even snow showers along the south coast.
Once it has done, the low that has been over the country for several days already is still around and in no hurry to move on, so prepare yourself for more fog, more frost, more snowy outbreaks and a cold, cold December.