Although June heralds the start of summer, this year it doesn’t really feel much like summer at all. You might wish to hang on to your winter coat a little longer, as a cold front continues to sweep across the capital and swathes of the UK.
This week, temperatures have slumped to 11°C in London, with the Met Office forecasting cooler evenings and days to come.
While low cloud cover may help add a few degrees on Thursday, the weather isn’t looking too promising.
This week’s frosty temperatures feel like a far cry from the hot weather that many felt in early April, with a high of 21.8°C recorded in Essex.
Around this time of year, average maximum temperatures can hit 20°C in the capital. So what’s going on?
London weather forecast this week
According to the Met Office, Thursday’s weather will be “dry with light winds”. It will also bring “periods of hazy sunshine at first but [it is to become] increasingly cloudy and breezy before rain spreads east in the late afternoon and through the evening.” The maximum temperature that can be expected is 19°C.
We’re looking at some longer spells of showers from Friday to Sunday, which will possibly be thundery and heavy. The end-of-week forecast has also been described as “unsettled and often breezy with variable cloud”.
However, the temperature is expected to recover by the end of the week. As Monday approaches, they may rise to even 20°C.
Meteorologists have already predicted we will not be seeing the weather improve much across the UK until the end of June.
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said: “It looks as if temperatures will stay near or slightly below average for the majority of the rest of June. Over the next couple of nights, we’re actually expecting to see a little bit of frost in a few places.
“This will mainly be across Scotland and possibly into northern England and Northern Ireland where temperatures could get down to around freezing.”
Why is it so cold?
A number of weather experts have confirmed that we’re currently experiencing below-average temperatures because the Atlantic jet stream is bringing in cool air from Iceland and Greenland.
Last month, an earlier bout of low pressure across the country helped to bring in a northerly flow of cool air, leading to a drop in temperatures.
BBC presenter Carol Kirkwood associated the cooler temperatures with Arctic air being pulled in, which is making the air cooler.
"High pressure is out to the west so all the wind is coming around it, down the North Sea coastline, so we are pulling in Arctic air at the moment," she said.
