Morning:
8°c
Wrap up for a chilly week
Ellen Widdup5 Jan 2009
WINTRY weather will continue to envelop London this week with sleet, snow, fog and frost expected for the next seven days, forecasters warn.
As London returned to work after the festive break amid snowfalls of a few centimetres in the suburbs, the Met Office said there would be no let up before the weekend.
Temperatures are expected to drop as low as -6C at night, reaching a maximum of 3C during the day.
Kevin Hogg of the Met Office said: "Most of you will have woken up to some snow or ground frost this morning which is fairly indicative of what will happen daily this week," he added. "We are expecting things to stay icy with the possibility of frequent flurries.
"The temperature is around 3C today but there is a sharp breeze making it feel much more bitter. Tonight the sky will become bright and clear and we are set for widespread frost and a temperature of around -5C."
Tomorrow is expected to be fine and sunny with top temperatures of 2C but at night they are expected to fall to around -6C. Mr Hogg said the wintry conditions would reach a peak on Wednesday and Thursday.
"On Wednesday things are expected to cloud over a little from the north, which could mean snow. I would think it will stay cold and frosty until the end of the weekend. Early signs indicate next week will be milder with temperatures more in keeping with the averages for this time of year." Bob Syvret of the Met Office forecast team said temperatures were being suppressed by a weather pattern which was stopping warmer Atlantic air blowing across the country. Average daytime temperatures for this time of year are usually 7C.
"The normal run of prevailing westerly winds which bring mild air off the Atlantic have been blocked by a mass of cold air that has sat over the UK and the Continent for the last couple of weeks," he said. "It happens every so often." Kevin Groves, spokesman for Network Rail, said it was taking the severe weather warnings very seriously. "We have very sophisticated and detailed weather information from the Met Office and have now put all our severe weather action plans into place," he said. "Emergency teams will be on standby this week just in case anything goes awry."
Edmund King, president of AA Roadwatch, warned of treacherous roads. "We will have heavier traffic this week as people return to work. There have been more breakdowns than usual."
Reader views (21)
Yep, MCW, when I was at school, there were icicles hanging off all classroom buildings, one radiator for the whole class, which was needed. Lots of walking to school in the snow/ice. These winters only started to get milder once I left school in the mid 80s, and since then I think I've only seen a few cold ones like this. Just go back 100+ years & the Thames used to freeze over. That is how cold winter can get in this country.
- Dom, London, 06/01/2009 13:29
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Average winter conditions have changed so much due to global warming that when we actually get a proper/normal British winter everyone claims that global warming has gone away and that these conditions are somehow exceptional! This is how winter's supposed to be! The warm, damp, rainy conditions we usually have in December and January are not normal and possibly evidence of global warming. When I was a child in the 80s living just north of London, just about every year we had snow, which laid and stayed for a month or so and at night temperatures regularly dropped below zero. This is how the weather is supposed to be at this time of year. Have you all forgotten?!
- Mcw, London, 06/01/2009 09:14
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Who says it can't be just natural causes in the shift of weather, surely Global warming was not the cause of the last Ice age. The planet is entitled to go through changes.
- Lee, London, 06/01/2009 08:38
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Londoners could keep warmer if they all learned to wear a nice warm hat in the winter and smile a bit - ex pat from London
- Marysia Gawrys, Mandurah, Australia, 06/01/2009 00:20
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Poor Neil. Yes, that's right global warming is a hoax and only clever people like you have spotted it. While you're at it, the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it and there are fairies at the bottom of your garden.
- Austen, London, 05/01/2009 20:47
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Central office is slipping up, not one Tory muppet has written to blame Gordon Brown for the cold weather.
- Kerry Trubee, purley, 05/01/2009 18:59
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Clearly Dave, and one or two others, know absolutely nothing about the warming effect which the Gulf Stream has on the UK's weather. If, as is expected, Global Warming alters its route in the Atlantic, we can expect winters similar to those experienced in Moscow. Global warming will manifest itself in different ways.
- Neil, Gloucestershire, England., 05/01/2009 17:52
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Neil, are you sure Global Warming is a hoax?
I thought it was a religion...
- George, London, 05/01/2009 17:38
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Thanks guys, I knew I could rely on you to come through with the goods.
- Chris, London, 05/01/2009 17:10
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Dave, if you were not aware, global warming will cause Britain to get colder, and this will change the route of the Gulf Stream, which "heats" the U.K up. Generally it's excepted global warming will cause more and more extream weather conditions in the U.K, so should we have Heat waves, Tornadoes, Torrential Rain / Flooding in the next few years, yes we can blame global warming! oops, we've had them all recently
- Sukh, seven kings, 05/01/2009 16:46
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Well.... it is winter, you know.
- James, Old Street, 05/01/2009 15:34
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Global warming is a hoax. It is propaganda designed to tighten social control and most people appear to have fallen for it, except for the fact that it's freezing at the moment.
- Neil, london uk, Airstrip ONE ., 05/01/2009 15:14
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And I'm just waiting for the usual boring Canadians to come on with their inane comments such as "you don't know what real cold is." Mind you, it's early in the day yet - they've only just got up.
- Brian, Woking, Surrey, 05/01/2009 14:55
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Dave - it's not global warming, it's a cold front!
By the way, in case you didn't know, that the planet is warming is a proven fact that even the most sceptical scientists now agree on.
- Steve, London, UK, 05/01/2009 14:28
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Can we have some GLOBAL WARMTH please?!?!?!
- Martin H Watson, Teddington, 05/01/2009 13:30
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Well, it is winter, you know
- Martin, London, 05/01/2009 12:39
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Chris, brace yourself, "Well, it is winter, you know". Couldn't resist!
- Dom, London, 05/01/2009 12:14
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Well, it is winter, you know! Sorted.
- Paul, London, 05/01/2009 12:00
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It must be global warming - Again.
I have noticed that the desperate greenies tell me that any weather is due to global warming. They bleat when the weather is windy, hot, cold, foggy, dry, frosty or just plain middling.
And Chris, London - it is winter, you know!
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, 05/01/2009 11:42
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Surely it must be the coldest 05 January since records began!
- Bj, London, 05/01/2009 11:38
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I'm just bracing myself for someone to write "Well, it is winter, you know".
- Chris, London, 05/01/2009 10:15
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