Temperatures will remain low on Friday afternoon, dropping to -1 degrees Celsius in northern Scotland and the eastern Midlands as early as Saturday morning, resulting in widespread frost. There will be rain and sleet in the west which will keep the temperatures slightly higher, while snow on hills above Wales is likely to land at lower altitudes. The Met Office warned of possible ice travel on Saturday due to snow and hail in the north-east and east of England, which stretches from the Scottish border to the eastern Midlands. Although temperatures will be low for the season, much of the UK will see sunny seasons on Saturday. Winds moving northwest will bring milder air, which means temperatures will recover on Monday and close to the average for this time of year, with a high 14 degrees Celsius in the south of England. These will give way to a second gust of wind coming down from the Arctic that could lead to a snowstorm next week, meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said. “When it rains in the colder air in front of it, it causes more winter material to grow, but it will not be as dramatic as we saw as it left,” he said. The cold end of March and the beginning of April comes after Britain experienced the sunniest March in almost a century, according to meteorologists. Scotland and Northern Ireland saw the most sunshine in March since the census began, while the United Kingdom as a whole recorded the sunniest March since 1929, according to the Met Office. Northern Ireland had 90% more sunshine than the average for the month, with a total of 192.5 hours of sunshine. Scotland saw 64% more than usual, with a total of 160.1 hours. The sunny outlook was repeated across the UK, with England seeing the second sunniest March at 168.1 hours, and Wales the fifth sunniest at 157.9 hours. The Met Office began recording the hours of sunshine in 1919. Dr Mark McCarthy, head of the National Climate Information Center, a meteorologist who manages the UK’s climate records, said large areas of high pressure over the UK for much of the month were causing record numbers. He said: “March has once again demonstrated the typical variability of the UK climate, with some cold conditions at the beginning and end of the month separated by a long period of mild and unstable weather. “Sunshine record levels came largely from a very large high-pressure area above the UK for much of the month, sometimes also covering much of Europe. This brought clear skies, mild days, but also some cool nights and a few frosts. “We have seen the hottest time of the year so far with 20.8 degrees Celsius recorded in London on March 23, but we also saw a low minus 9.1 Celsius in Aboyne (Aberdeenshire) earlier this month, highlighting the volatility of March in the United Kingdom. Kingdom.”
