‘IT’S GOING TO BE WARMER THAN EGYPT AND THE MED’
BALISTAIR GRANT, DOMINIC HARRIS AND STEPHEN JONES newsdesk@walesonline.co.uk
RITAIN is set for the hottest February 20 in 160 years tomorrow – with temperatures of 18°C forecast in parts of the country. A giant plume of warm air from Jamaica has been blown 5,000 miles in the direction of the UK and is set to make the country warmer than Egypt and most of the Mediterranean, the Mirror reports.
Conditions are described as set to be “exceptional”.
It won’t have been this warm on February 20 since 1857 – when Queen Victoria sat on the throne.
Wales Online previously reported that temperatures could hit 17⁰C in parts of Wales next week.
Speaking about the forecast for tomorrow, Met Office meteorologist Steven Keates previously said: “It will reach up to 16-17⁰C in areas downwind, east of the Welsh mountains, the Midlands and southern England.
“We will get some particularly warm air originally from Florida and the Caribbean.
“Parts of the country will possibly be hotter than it is in Greece, with similar temperatures to Sicily and eastern Spain.
“Parts of the Middle East have been quite cold recently and Dubai could be about 14⁰C while we are at the hottest.
“It will be quite breezy, though, which might offset some of the mild feel.”
Weather presenter Alex Deakin said: “Temperatures are on the rise and there will be a whiff of spring in the air. This weekend it is a complete reversal from last weekend.
“We can’t promise sunny skies everywhere, but it will be feeling much milder.”
The warmer weather comes as schoolchildren in Wales enjoy their half-term holiday in the upcoming week.
Thermometers will peak in southern and eastern England - while highs could peak at 17⁰C in eastern Scot- land, the Met Office said.
Aberdeen, Wattisham in Suffolk, and London are all tipped as likely locations for the highest temperatures, with the east of the country broadly enjoying the best of the warmth.
The mild weather, which is pushing temperatures to 4⁰C or 5⁰C above the average maximums for this time of year, is being triggered by an air mass making its way over the Atlantic Ocean from Florida and parts of the Caribbean.
The rise could make parts of the UK among the hottest locations in Europe, following bouts of snow and freezing temperatures that took hold on the continent earlier this month.
Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said: “The average maximums in the north are 6⁰C or 7⁰C for this time of year, but we are looking at 15⁰C or 16⁰C in a few spots.
“But it will still be a bit short of the all-time record for February, which is 19.7⁰C recorded on February 13, 1998, in Greenwich, London.”
Tomorrow’s highs ease to 14⁰C on Tuesday – when the Met Office forecasts 55mph gales in Scotland.