The Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray have been enjoying an unexpectedly mild spell while England experiences some of their coldest January temperatures for many years.
In a reversal of traditional weather patterns caused by changing air pressure over the Atlantic, temperatures reached 10.1C in Kinlochewe, while the mercury plunged to -9.5C in Santon Downham, Suffolk.
Just before 3pm, the Met Office announced Dyce was the warmest place in the UK after reaching 15.8C, with the coldest being Hereford in the West Midlands, where it fell to -0.1C.
Well, that's a contrast! Here are the highest and lowest maximum temperatures of the day 👇 pic.twitter.com/GYiqZP8Q1d
— Met Office (@metoffice) January 24, 2023
Altnaharra in Caithness was at an unexpected high of 13C last night with Aberdeenshire temperatures expected to reach 12C or 13C today.
Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles are also enjoying the mild spell as they recorded temperatures of 9C, 10C and 10C last night.
Whereas it was a different story down in England.
There were lows of -9.8C in the West Suffolk village of Santon Downham on Monday – East Anglia’s coldest night in 10 years.
Heathrow Airport also recorded its coldest night since December 2010 and coldest January night since 1987 as temperatures dropped to -8.4C.
Temperatures have reached nearly 15C this afternoon across northern Scotland well above the late January average of 6C. This has been helped partly by a Foehn effect.
Here is a look at the temperatures across the UK 👇 pic.twitter.com/qIv4aZ7qYK
— Met Office (@metoffice) January 24, 2023
Why has it been so mild?
According to Statista, the average daily January temperature in the UK is around 5C.
The sudden change in the fortunes in the Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray comes after last week’s cold snap.
It was so severe on Friday that NHS Grampian announced it had dealt with the highest ever number of slips, trips and falls due to the ice.
The cold weather in London caused flight disruption from Heathrow yesterday but flights have returned to normal today.
This unusual weather divide across the county has been caused by a difference is pressure causing warm winds from Atlantic to hit Scotland, while cold air from the continent reached England.
Greg Dewhurst, Met Office meteorologist, told The Press & Journal: “It is quite common for the wind to change the weather quickly across our island, but it is a little unusual to see it this way round.
“Usually it is Scotland which is colder.
“But since we are an island and not continental, our weather can change quite quickly.
“And there has been a lot of cloud cover overnight, which keeps it warmer.”
The temperatures are predicted to continue to be fairly mild for the rest of the week across the Highlands and Grampian.
But by the middle of the week, the pressure difference is expected to go and the UK’s weather will become similar once again.
Conversation