Week off to an icy start with temperatures plunging to -7C

After a balmy and mild weekend, the UK is back to wintry temperatures, the Met Office has said.

Today saw highs of 16C, but temperatures will soon drop to minus 7C on Monday night, with parts of the UK being ‘wet and windy’, spokeswoman Becky Mitchell said.

She said: ‘It will be quite wet and windy though, we will have various bands of rain coming in from the west, which could be heavy at times, and also very breezy across the whole country.

‘The rain will be heavy in places, but we’re not expecting any large amounts to cause any significant issues. As I say, western areas will see most of the outbreaks of rain, but there will be some dry interludes as well.’

Temperatures will be a bit below average this week, she said, with some outbreaks of rain and northerly wind.

‘Tuesday we will have a band of rain gradually moving in from the west. The temperatures this whole time will be around mid-single figures, so feeling pretty chilly.

‘We will have some overnight frost as well, particularly on Monday night,’ she added.

‘Temperatures on Monday could fall as low as about minus 7C in parts of rural Scotland overnight. That is likely to be the coldest night of the week.

‘Thereafter temperatures are probably turning average from midweek, with rain at times and some dry interludes too.’

After temperatures plunged as low as -9C in some parts of the UK in November, forecasters said a brief revival in the mercury levels caused the balmy weather we saw this weekend.

Following two major storms in November, Metro found out what could be behind one of the UK’s wettest years in recent memory – and the major changes in the weather day to day.

Last winter was the eighth wettest in 150 years – and this winter is looking like it will be similar.

The simple answer as to why we’ve had such wet weather is because warmer temperatures are able to hold more water.

The Week reported: ‘For every degree of warming, the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere increases by around 7%, which fuels “more intense rainfall”.’

The downpours commuters had to navigate earlier today could be in relation to the jet stream, a band of strong westerly winds circling around five to seven miles above the Earth’s surface.

The one which affects us most is the polar jet stream, and it helps to give the UK its generally temperate climate, containing the cold air above the Arctic.

It slams into the UK in the winter, leading to rainier weather. If global warming continues as is, it’s likely the jet stream could lead to even wetter winters – but drier summers.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.