Well the strong SSWE (sudden stratospheric warming event) back in March sure is doing it’s dirty work this April with arctic cold and snow the talk of the town across parts of South-Central, Midland and Eastern England, Wales and Scotland today and it’s unlikely over yet.

This morning’s 500mb height anomaly.

Check out this rather Christmas card scene from Aberdeenshire this morning captured by Stephane Gentile.

As I expected and stated from a few days ago, the Midlands was the place to watch Friday night into Saturday as moisture from a system lifting north, meeting arctic air diving south could bring a decent snowfall to parts of the England in particular.

It was a cold morning with clear sky and frost for some, some snow showers for others.

Factor in a stiff northerly breeze and we’ve a very significant, January-like wind chill chart covering the UK currently.

Our air mass did originate within the arctic just a couple of days ago.

Here was the M6 and M54 earlier.

Telford, Shropshire

Stourbridge, West Midlands

TOP IMAGE CREDIT: Met Office

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We have a blanket of -5 to -10C air at 850mb (5,000ft) and tonight, beneath clear sky and light wind, we could see 0 to -3C widely outside town and city centres but where snow lies, -8 isn’t out of the question.

Today’s GFS 2m temps. Cool UK into N France, warmth across Italy up through Balkans.

Tomorrow sees high build into Scotland, forcing trough south and therefore warmer air to lift up through Balkans. Somewhere may hit 30C!

Why Cold & Snow In April?

This years SSWE is later than usual and although well into spring and sun angle much higher, the effects are the same, albeit in a weaker form.

https://youtu.be/L2552OlVPa4

Why Now & Not During Winter?

Blame or thank El Nino which kept us warm during winter but now that it’s weakening, it couldn’t hold back the large-scale sudden stratospheric warming event that’s been trying to occur mid and late winter but possibly held back due to the enormous warmth pumped from Pacific into the global atmosphere.

Will This Cool Weather Continue?

With no cooling of the polar stratosphere in sight, there’s little sign of real summer warmth through at least mid May.

Winds turn westerly across Scotland as early as tomorrow which means the arctic door gets shut. Through next week it’s looking pretty decent with plenty of fine, dry weather and although nights will still get chilly, I expect days to warm with a possible shot at our first 20 or 21C by Thursday.

HOWEVER, high pressure rebuilds to the west of Ireland late week and we look likely to see another cold blast come out of the arctic next weekend. This cold spell may last well into the following week and be more widespread over Western Europe where as we see a moderation in temperature tomorrow onwards.

500mb height anomalies for next week.

2m temp anomalies.

See this morning’s video.
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