Exact date sunshine ends before Britain sees its first snow of winter
The Indian Summer that much of the UK has been basking in will soon come to an end as the Met Office predicts cooler weather is on the way.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the country was somewhere in the depths of summer over the past few days, with many areas basking in glorious sunshine. The soaring heat at the weekend saw the warmest temperatures in five years for October.
A top temperature of 25.8C was recorded in London's Kew Gardens on Sunday - compared to typical average temperatures of 16C. While in Cardiff, Bute Park also saw the a high of 24.4C as millions of people enjoyed the balmy conditions.
The hottest temperature recorded in the UK in October was on October 1, 2011 in Gravesend, Kent, where temperatures reached 29.9C. However, the current unusually warm weather is set to finish this week according to the Met Office.
The forecaster predicts that Tuesday will remain mostly dry with warm sunshine developing for much of the country. But some rain across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northwest England will develop as well as fog affecting parts of the southern and western coasts.
Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts
Temperatures will start to cool on Wednesday, though, before a huge drop off from then onwards. Conditions will reach only 13C in the south and Wales on Thursday, while the rest of England and Northern Ireland will see a maximum of 11C.
The Met Office said for Thursday and Friday: "Rain moving south across England and Wales on Wednesday. Sunshine and blustery showers elsewhere. Mostly fine, but fresher on Thursday. Wet in the south on Friday, brighter, showery further north."
It added that "heavy rain" is expected to arrive into the southwest early on Friday. The Met Office has also spoken out about the possibility of the El Niño weather phenomenon hitting the UK this winter.
The forecaster said that for snow to fall, there must be cold air and plenty of moisture. That cold air requires winds from the north or east and, if those conditions are met, that wind needs to encounter a rain-bearing weather front - or for the cold air to pick up enough moisture as it comes in across the North Sea to form showers.
Previous El Niño winters for the UK normally mean much colder weather is on its way, but also drier, with some fairly severe cold spells also expected. Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the UK’s Met Office told EuroNews last month: “El Niño years have a tendency to have a mild wet and westerly start to winter (November to December) and a colder, drier end to winter (January to March) across most of northern Europe.”
Although he added: "It's important to note that this is the average across many El Niño cases and isn’t strong enough to determine the outcome for certain. Instead, El Niño just shifts the probability in favour of these outcomes.”
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