Spring Has Sprung Over UK While Scandinavia, Russia, Ukraine Descend Back Into Winter

Written by Mark Vogan on March 17, 2016 in Rest of Europe, United Kingdom & Ireland, Winter 2015/16 with 0 Comments

UPDATE: While it’s a cold, cloudy 6C this afternoon in Aberdeen and just 4C in places, just 50 miles to the west and with sunny skies it’s an early summer-like 18.6C currently in Braemar. Today mark’s the UK’s warmest of 2016 to date!

As you can see in the below visible satellite, there’s a lot of sunshine this afternoon throughout the UK but there’s stubborn cloud, mist and fog lingering along North Sea coasts and through the Forth-Clyde Valley also. Here, it’s just 5-8C.

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Current temps over UK and Europe

Meteoceil

ORIGINAL POST

Well we remain high, dry and quiet throughout Ireland and the British Isles while unsettled over Iberia and Scandinavia thanks to this OMEGA blocking pattern. Here, where it’s been dull and particularly along the North Sea Coast, breezy, it’s been rather cold with 5C at best. However, in the sunshine, light wind, we enjoyed 16C once again yesterday.

This large blocking high will dominate this weekend with further unsettled weather through the Med. While that high remains in control, it’s ever so slowly retrograding west allowing a significant late season cold shot to dive into Scandinavia and down the eastern side of Europe. Expect widespread snow and mid winter temps with both Moscow and Kiev pushing -10C under clear skies following snowfall.

TOP IMAGE CREDIT: Credit: La Diet’Nomade ‏@MorganeDebenath

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Credit: AccuWeather Pro

GFS meteogram for Moscow shows temps struggling to reach -6C by day and dropping to at least -10C by night.

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Moscow snow forecast

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Cold Shot For UK Late Next Week?

Both GFS and ECMWF are in good agreement over the next 5 day period but once we get into next week, they go their separate ways.

While the GFS holds the high largely over the UK keeping winds light and the skies mixed with sun and cloud, the ECMWF has a more pronounced low east of Iceland and the high a slightly weaker and further west of Ireland.

As you can see from the below ECMWF, that low forces the high west and we get a brief discharge of late season arctic air with a strong, cold northerly bringing hill snow and temps more typical of early February rather than mid/late March.