Last week it was like winter with some snow, frost and ice! Near Tirabad in Powys the temperature dropped as low as -7 °C and even in Cardiff -5°C was recorded. Since then it has turned much milder again with south to south-westerly winds bringing air to us from the Canaries. Hawarden in Flintshire recorded a spring-like 15.5°C yesterday, not quite a record for January but warmer than Rome!
Snowdonia taken by Rory Trappe
On the other side of the pond, north east America has been hit by a severe winter storm recently bringing heavy snow and blizzards!
Some people say that we often get the same weather here in about a fortnight’s time but that is not necessarily true. The low pressure that brought the heavy snow to Washington DC and New York is now over the Atlantic moving northeast on the Jet Stream towards the UK. By midday Tuesday low pressure will be centred to the north west of Scotland bringing not snow, but wet and windy conditions to the UK.
Met Office weather chart for Tuesday 26 January
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of heavy rain on Tuesday and into Wednesday with a risk of flooding in places. The rain will be accompanied by strong to gale force winds so expect poor travelling conditions.
Wednesday morning will be very windy with gales easing during the afternoon. The rain will clear followed by drier, brighter weather and one or two showers. It will turn colder with the wind veering west to north-westerly.
On Thursday we should see a dry, bright start to the day. It will be chilly with ground frost in places. We will see some sunshine for a time, but the wind will back south-westerly again during the day and increase with more rain arriving later in the afternoon and evening.
Friday will be milder, but windy with strong to gale force winds and a warning of more heavy rain.
Blackbird in the rain taken by Clive Brown
It looks like the weekend will start wet and very windy with strong gales! On Saturday we should see drier, brighter and colder conditions with a few wintry showers and some sunshine. It looks like the cold snap will be brief with milder south-westerly winds returning during Sunday.