The Met Office has said that its weather forecast for the next few days is "quite unsual". While Amber and Yellow weather warnings for ice and freezing weather are in place across the UK today, the big thaw will come with unusual speed.
Freezing rain and snow are expected to cause major disruption in many parts of the country today (Sunday, December 18). But within 24 hours, temperatures are expected to jump by 15 degrees.
The cold snap will be replaced with warmer weather due to milder air coming in from the Atlantic. And weather experts say the speed of this rapid change in the weather is "quite unusal"'
Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said cold wind has been coming down from the north in the last week or 10 days, but this week winds are going to start coming in from the west or south west.
“So it’s bringing milder air off the Atlantic, rather than coming down from the Arctic,” he said.
Mr Petagna said it is not unheard of to get temperatures in the low teens at this time of year, but said the contrast of going from very cold to very mild in a day or two is quite unusual. He said both daytime and night-time temperatures are expected to increase over the next couple of days.
Mr Petagna told the PA news agency: “At the moment daytime temperatures are low single figures, and in places are staying below freezing under snow cover, so some areas are just a little bit below zero.
“But daytime temperatures by Monday, we’re looking at across the UK highs of 11C to 14C, so around about 15 degrees certainly higher than they’ve been.”
Mr Petagna said people can expect a leap of “15 degrees or more” as some snow-covered spots could see an increase of more than 15 degrees.
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