Hi all,

Happy New Year to you all and I hope you all have a fantastic 2021.

It’s been a cold Christmas and New Year break with below-average temperatures across the region. There’s not been any widespread disruptive snowfall yet but we’ve kept the wintry showers going since the few cms of snow we had after Christmas. The white snow-covered hills have certainly made for some lovely walks and picturesque photos. Thanks to everyone for their wintry tweets.

Thursday: A bitterly cold start with temperatures locally down to -6°C. So a widespread frost and icy patches after recent wintry showers. There will also be some freezing fog to watch out for. It will be a cold day and after a sunny start, away from the fog, it will cloud over from the North. A band of weakening precipitation will bring some patchy rain, sleet and snow to the region later in the day and overnight. A covering of snow can’t be ruled out even to lower-levels. Max 2°C Min -1°C

⚠️ Weather warning in place for ice and snow: https://twitter.com/ChadWeather/status/1346789217419079680?s=19

Friday: There will be some scattered sleet and snow showers around to start the day, again a covering is possible but nothing major. These will ease during the morning and it will turn brighter. A very cold day throughout with ice and overnight frost. Max 2°C Min -4°C

Weekend: Saturday the better day but change is coming…

Saturday: Another frosty start with plenty of ice. A nice day ahead with sunny spells but cloudier into the evening with a change in wind direction as less cold weather looms. Max 3°C Min -1°C

Sunday: More of a westerly airflow now introducing thicker cloud but starting dry after a patchy frost. Cloud thickening later with some drizzle possible. Max 4°C Min 2°C

Outlook: Temperatures continuing to rise back up to normal January values. Plenty of cloud with some light rain or drizzle at times. Will the colder (or even colder) weather return? As you may have heard in the news we have had an SSW event this winter so we have a 70% chance of colder-than-normal conditions (usually via an easterly wind) developing over the coming weeks. This is not certain and at this stage not showing on the horizon. More of an SSW explainer, keeping it simple, here: https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2021/01/05/new-year-begins-with-a-sudden-stratospheric-warming/.

Here are a few statistics for last month and the year of 2020 in general.

The days in 2020 with the most rainfall were SATURDAY & SUNDAY!

WEDNESDAY was the day with the most rainy days!

The average temperature for 2020 was 10°C.

The average maximum temperature for 2020 was 13.3°C.

The average minimum temperature for 2020 was 6.9°C.

1,200.2mm of rain fell in 2020 with February the wettest (268.6mm) and May the driest (7.4mm).

On average the wind came from the WSW in 2020.

In 2020 the average wind gust was 17mph.

📊 December 2020

Max 12.9°C (18th)
Min -3.7°C (25th)
Av. 4.5°C
Av. Dew Pt 3.1°C
Wettest 27mm (26th)
Av. Humidity 91%
Av. Barometer 1001.9 hPa
Max Gust 33mph (23rd)
Av. Wind Direction S
Rain 113.4mm
Rain Registered Days 27
Dry Days 4
Air Frosts 6
Snow Falling Days 4

Thanks,
Jon

Forecast Issued: Wednesday the 6th of January 2020 at 7:30pm