Holiday Cottages Blog

Articles and info on holidays and cottages in the UK and Ireland

Archive for category Weather

Get your winter warmers on, it’s going to get cold!

Nov 22

Posted by elisa in East England, News, Scotland, Weather | No Comments

Will these be scenes we'll be seeing outside our windows? Picture by Flickr User gruntzooki

Remember last year’s winter weather? It was bloomin’ freezing, and this year it’s set to get pretty chilly a month earlier!

Parts of the country had a taste of the first freeze last week with snow falling in Co Durham and parts of Scotland. This week the rest of the country is going to be hit with the eastern side of the country set to take the largest battering of the cold. London is expected to get its first snow on Thursday and Scotland will see around six inches of snow in some places.

The rest of the country has a risk of snow but nowhere is going to avoid the plummeting temperatures to around 6C during the daytime and -0C in the evening as winds from Russia push down.

“The coldest weather of autumn so far is coming down from northern parts of Russia and the Arctic. It brings the threat of snow on Thursday and Friday, mainly to the eastern side of the country.” said Met Office forecaster Tony Burgess in today’s Metro newspaper.

He added: “It will be cold – we’re talking about daytime maximums in many areas down to 2C by Friday. Scotland will be cold and could stay sub-zero during the day, particularly over higher ground.”

People should be careful driving on icy roads and walking on slippery pavements in this weather. Meanwhile, schoolchildren will be keeping their fingers crossed for the level of snow we got at the start of this year for some days off school to go sledging!

Snow next week?

Oct 15

Posted by elisa in News, Weather | 2 Comments

Forecasters are predicting snow in Scotland and possibly Northern England next week. Southern England might escape the unseasonal snow but will have a rather frosty feel of 9C during the day and even lower in the evening.

“A northerly air stream in the middle part of next week means coldest conditions will probably be in Scotland, with sleet or snow showers and snow settling on higher ground,” said forecaster Brian Gaze of independent forecasters The Weather Outlook.

Positive Weather Solutions, which predicted a heatwave summer (which unfortunately did not arrive) are predicting a ‘white-out’ winter once again this year. Last winter was the coldest for 31 years, with an average UK-wide temperature of just (1.5C) and caused chaos, especially on the roads as the UK ran out of rock salt.

If this forecast is correct, then it might be a good time to start saving a bit of rock salt for your path and buying sledges for those potential days of work if you’re snowed in!

Before the heatwave comes…snow?

Mar 29

Posted by elisa in Weather | No Comments

Global warming at work?  Perhaps, if the next few days’ weather predictions are anything to go by!  Just as we change the clocks for British Summer Time, looking forward to lighter, sunnier evenings, a prediction from the same company that has predicted a heatwave summer (reported in my last blog) has announced that over the next few days we are going to return to the cold winter weather of the start of the year.

Northern England, Scotland and Wales are due to have a smattering of snow over this evening through to Wednesday when temperatures are set to rise slightly, but alas over the Easter Weekend it is predicted to be rather damp and cold.

Positive Weather Solutions senior forecaster Jonathan Powell said: “Mid Atlantic air which has seen temperatures comfortably into doubt figures across most of Britain will be replaced by this Arctic air on Monday.”

“Good Friday will be rather damp. It will be drier with some sunshine around and temperatures will stage a bit of a recovery.”

So with these predictions in mind, will those of you who are going on holiday this Easter be changing any of your plans? Or have you factored in the ever-changing British weather into your holiday?

Heatwave Summer!

Mar 22

Posted by elisa in Coast, Cottages Search, Weather | 4 Comments

 

DSC_0140 by Magic Foundry.

Fingers crossed for scenes like this in summer! Picture by Flickr User Magic Foundry

I know, I know, it’s either announced that it’s going to be a heatwave or a washout and often turns into a somewhat of a middling to drizzling summertime; but this year is going to be different! Or so Positive Weather Solutions announces today. It’s a company that has ‘out-forecast’ Met Office figures over the last two years.

A two week heatwave is predicted at the start of August when temperatures could be higher than the current record held in Kent of 38.5C set in 2003. We should also see balmy average temperatures throughout June and July making for a consistently summery summer.

To show the difference between the Positive Weather Solutions’ (PWS) and the Met Office’s predictions we can look back at previous forecasts, for example, last year the Met Office predicted a hot summer whereas PWS predicted a summer with periods of thunder storms and rain. Another example is the Met Office’s prediction that this winter had a one in seven chance of a chilly winter, whereas PWS were correct in stating that we would have a white Christmas and a big freeze that would last until March.

So with these results we certainly hope that their predicting powers continue as a hot summer would be wonderful and also a brilliant time to rent out a holiday cottage in the UK. If your tempted, browse cottages at our main site here.

Road salt ration warning

Jan 12

Posted by elisa in News, Transport, Weather | No Comments

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has warned that it will be necessary for councils to ration supplies of salt if the country is to cope with the continued cold weather.

The Transport Secretary told the House of Lords that the Highways Agency and Councils have agreed to cut salt used on roads by 25%, adding that further measures to keep networks open may be needed given the prolonged cold weather.

The decision was criticised by Shadow Travel Secretary, Theresa Villiers, who said that this was an “admission of guilt” because the government “had sat on the Local Government Association’s report on the issue until two days before the snow started to fall and they failed to learn the lessons of February 2009.”

The Salt Cell, that brings together the agencies that supply road salt, will be meeting today to discuss the situation. Despite the obvious concern over this cold period and a noticeable lack of cleared side roads, the Highways Agency insist that there are sufficient salt supplies to keep main roads open in the coming days.

‘Big Freeze’ set to last for the next week at least

Jan 7

Posted by elisa in News, Weather | No Comments

It’s hard not to avoid talking about the UK’s ‘big freeze’ as the weather keeps its icy grip on the nation.

Temperatures have dropped to as low as -18C in some places, whereas most areas have fluctuated between -8C and 0C. These conditions are predicted to stay the same for up to a week, causing more chaos on the roads and many schools remaining closed.

The National Grid has issued a further gas alert with demand set to hit 454 million cubic metres on Thursday, a new record. A spokesperson said that the supply shortfalls from the Langeled pipeline from Norway were down to technical errors.

Up to 25,000 homes in the UK have been left without electricity because of trees falling on power lines and ice weighing down cables for safety mechanisms.

These extreme conditions mean that it is important to build up a sense of community spirit as there will be many people who will find it almost impossible to leave their homes to get simple things like basic shopping, so will undoubtedly appreciate help from those who are able and willing to run these small errands.

From personal experience I have found that the people in the set of flats that I live in have been making sure to check on those who may find it hard to leave their home in the weather and have clubbed together to go to the shops to pick up supplies, and have also been clearing paths of snow to make access to the flats easier. I have met more people during this snowy period than I have since first moving here earlier last year and it is certainly nice to see such community spirit. Perhaps readers of this blog would like to share similar stories in the comments section to show that it is not all doom and gloom in the snow at the moment!

 Also, don’t forget to post your snowsculptures in the previous blog! I know there are some great things being created in the snow at the moment so it’d be nice to see them together!