Britain’s hopes for an early start to summer are being dashed with the arrival of arctic weather fronts bringing ice and snow in the north and rain elsewhere.
Less than a fortnight after the highest April temperatures in four years, the seasons will feel like they have moved into reverse as May begins with the arrival of cold maritime air sweeping down the country from the north.
Combined with a series of low-pressure fronts, it means that despite sunny spells, most of the UK will be cold, with morning frosts a menace for gardeners, farmers and early morning commuters.
Sleet and snow are forecast on high ground from the Pennines northwards from Tuesday, after the Cairngorms had a light sprinkling on Sunday, but a Met Office yellow warning for ice in north-east Scotland has ended.
“We had some high pressure over the UK and that’s moved, which has allowed this Arctic maritime air to come down. Low pressure is [also] coming in from the east and it’s going across Scotland,” Nicola Maxey, a Met Office spokesperson, said.
Although Monday began with sunshine across much of the UK, cloud and rain will gradually come from the west during the afternoon, with the worst of the unsettled weather expected in the north-west.
Maxey said low-pressure systems from the Atlantic would bring rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the risk of more snow over higher ground.
Wednesday’s low pressure would bring rain to most of the country, north and south, Maxey said, but on Tuesday the south-east could escape the worst of the downpours with “maybe the odd shower here or there”.
The outlook is slightly drier towards the end of the week, but unsettled conditions will continue for the beginning of May, with temperatures average or just below average, according to Met Office forecasts.
Friday is likely to remain dry with some sun, but thicker cloud and rain will return over the weekend with most of the country set to get wet by Bank Holiday Monday and unsettled conditions remaining throughout next week. The best of the drier and brighter spells will be enjoyed by the south-east, according to the Met Office.
“The temperatures will feel quite cold because we’ve had this warm April, but it’s actually still spring and this is what spring is like in Britain,” Maxey said.
The changes come after the UK basked in what at one point had been hoped to become one of the warmest Aprils on record, with daytime temperatures in the first half of the month well above average in many areas.
A four-year record for April temperatures was broken on the 15th, with 25.1C recorded at Frittenden in Kent that afternoon, and average maximum temperatures 1.4C above normal up to the 17th, the Met Office said.
Maxey said the latest figures for April were not yet available, but according to a Met Office blog post rainfall for the first half of the month was well below normal in most areas.
