We could be in for a particularly sunny spring…
The Met Office has officially labeled today as the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures averaging around 10 degrees higher than those typically expected for this time of year.
The news is welcome, especially considering the miserable and chaotic few weeks that the country has endured thanks to not one but two storms that caused widespread damage up and down the country.
Warm spells have been reported throughout the UK, with beer gardens, parks and beaches full of people more than ready to soak up as many springy beams as they can.
19.3°C has been recorded in Kinlochewe. This is around 10 °C above average for this time of year in this area, and makes today the warmest day of the year so far pic.twitter.com/mHINU6EIi8
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 19, 2022
However it turns out that this recent uptick in temperature may have an unlikely source – and one that may possibly lead to even higher temperatures further down the line.
According to multiple sources, today’s bright and breezy climate may be due to a “completely unprecedented” heatwave in the Arctic where, on Wednesday, temperatures are reported to have soared to nearly 30 degrees above those expected at the North Pole, as reported in The Guardian.
“Looking back over the last few decades, we can clearly see a trend in warming, particularly in the ‘cold season’ in the Arctic,” explained Ruth Mottram, climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, speaking to The Washington Post via email.
“It’s not surprising that warm air is busting through into the Arctic this year,” she added. “In general we expect to see more and more of these events in the future.”
Meanwhile, weather expert and senior meteorologist at British Weather Services, Jim Dale, told The Express that Britain could be set for more of the same arriving as early as next week. He even went so far as to say we could get the “best weather week of the year so far.”
Speaking to the Mail Online, meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth elaborated on today’s particularly balmy weather, saying “It’s because we’ve got high pressure bringing wall-to-wall sunshine for much of the UK today”
Meanwhile The Met Office is hedging its bets, keen not to specifically say whether an April heatwave is guaranteed.
Currently covering April 1 until April 15, the outlet has instead said that the month is “likely to become more changeable during this period with spells of drier weather,” according to The Mirror.
However perhaps most impressively, The Met Office revealed a graphic that showed a rare moment where the UK was completely cloudless.
Consider us impressed.
It's not often we see the UK like this, virtually #cloud free as shown in the latest satellite sequence. pic.twitter.com/tub3t83BHN
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 19, 2022
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