Reversal of fortunes: Huge temperature contrasts today!

A near 20C difference in temperature has been recorded between the north and south of the UK, in an unusual reversal of fortunes.

Overnight on the 22nd, temperatures fell to -9.5C at Santon Downham in Suffolk, whilst remained in the balmy double digits for parts of northern Scotland, such as Kinlochewe in the Highlands at 10.1C.

Heathrow also recorded its coldest night since December 2010 with -8.4C, and coldest January night since 1987 when temperatures got as low as -9.1C.

Fog was in place too, with this in sub-zero temperatures known as freezing fog. This caused travel disruption across the country on the morning of Monday 23rd, with flights needing to be cancelled.

This is because visibility was so poor, but also because freezing fog forms a layer of thin ice on the planes, known as rime, which then needs to be removed via de-icing.

Whilst the upper air will be warming in the coming days, cold air will remain in-situ across the south and east, with the stark temperature contrasts expected to remain the theme.

So keep those mittens handy down south for the time being, but by mid-week temperatures should be slowly climbing back above freezing. By January 26th, temperatures could be over 10-15C higher there than they are now.