With the clocks days from going back and the nights drawing in, autumn has well and truly arrived – and now Britain is set for the first widespread frosts of the season.
Temperatures are set to plummet on Thursday and Friday night. They will fall to the low single figures across the country and could drop to freezing in areas of the Pennines as far south as the Peak District.
The lowest temperatures, down to -1C (30F), are expected in north Pennine areas of County Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland.
The Met Office predicts the chilly nights as a result of a ‘cold northerly airflow’ moving in after heavy, blustery and sometimes thundery showers through the coming week for all areas of the country.
The cold temperatures will come just days before the clocks go back, in the early hours of Sunday.
Icy conditions are set to return with widespread frost and even snow hitting parts of the country early this week.
After a pleasantly mild weekend it will be time to get out the de-icer again tomorrow morning as temperatures are set to plunge tonight.
In the coldest areas of rural Scotland the lowest temperatures could hit -7c or even -8c, with -2c or -3c likely in rural areas across England.
Temperatures are set to plummet on Thursday and Friday night. They will fall to the low single figures across the country and could drop to freezing in areas of the Pennines as far south as the Peak District
Even in towns and cities the overnight lows are expected to be a chilly 1c or 2c.
‘We can expect a widespread frost with a few icy patches on Tuesday morning,’ said Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud.
And with rain sweeping in across the country later in the day on Tuesday, areas of higher ground in northern England are likely to see snow as well.
Mr Stroud said: ‘The rain will turn briefly to snow across the high ground in the far north, that’s northern England and northwards.’
He said the snow would be ‘fairly shortlived’ and melt on Wednesday at temperatures improve.
Typical of the British weather, things change again with ‘wet and windy’ rather than cold conditions dominating for the rest of the week.
The quick cold snap is certainly in contrast to the mild conditions across the country over the weekend.
Met Office figures show the warmest spot on Saturday was Chivenor in Devon where temperatures topped 16c, or 61f.
But high temperatures across the UK were expected to be in single digits today as the topsy turvy nature of the winter weather continues.
