Sorry everyone, we may be in March but there’s no chance of warm spring temperatures anytime soon.
The Met Office has issued a level two cold weather alert for England alongside a warning of ‘severe cold weather with icy conditions and heavy snow’ which urges Brits to be ready for disruption.
The alert, which was issued at 11am this morning (Thursday 2 March) reads: “There is at least a 60% probability of severe cold weather/icy conditions/heavy snow between 0001 on Monday 06 Mar and 2359 on Wednesday 08 Mar across England.”
The forecasters warn that the cold snap could increase ‘health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services.’
Meanwhile in Scotland, temperatures in Edinburgh are set to sit between lows of 4C and highs of 7C across the same period – what a plot twist.
There’s been a whole lot of chat recently about snow hitting the UK due to a phenomenon called Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW), but looking at the Met Office’s long-range forecast, this seems more likely the further we go into March.
From next week, winds from the north will bring cold temperatures to most areas in the UK, with the Met Office warning that “northern and eastern areas are likely to experience wintry showers, which may turn into more organised bands of snow at times.”
BBC Weather’s forecast for March 8 to March 22 currently reads “If this colder set-up evolves as expected, then we could see wintry showers coming from the east, with low pressure edging up from the south.
“Southern areas of the UK could become more susceptible to increasing precipitation than the north. However, it’s too early to speculate on its exact nature yet.”