Met Office names areas facing -2C freeze on Saturday | Weather | News
The UK is bracing for a wet and windy weekend that could bring freezing temperatures of -2C to mark the start of British Summer Time (BST) when the clocks go forward.
Forecasters said the weekend would be a “tale of two halves”, with steady sunny spells and some showers on Saturday and rain and cold weather on Sunday. A Met Office spokesman said: “Saturday will be a fairly quiet sunny and showery day for most. The first showers will be in the far north west of the UK, but there will also be good sunshine and drier weather.”
“Sunday is a little more unstable, with another system coming in from the north-west causing wind and rain to spread across the UK throughout the day.”
The spokesman added that the UK as a whole is currently experiencing below average temperatures because “we are still in a pool of colder weather”. In rural England, temperatures of minus 2C and frost are expected on Saturday night, with a maximum temperature of 13C during the day.
The cold weather will continue further north in Scotland on Sunday, and temperatures are likely to drop to minus 2C in rural parts of the country. But the spokesman said a warmer spell was on the way, with above-average spring temperatures on Monday night. More light and warmer weather would be a welcome boost for many people after a cold and wet winter. Met Office figures for the year to February 25 show southern England has suffered its seventh wettest winter since records began in 1836.
The time change will take place at 1am on 29 March, when the UK will switch to BST, also known as Daylight Saving Time (DST).
Starting Sunday, the sun will rise an hour later and the mornings will be darker, but as spring progresses, sunrise and sunset will move further apart and the days will feel longer. By the summer solstice on June 21, daylight will be at its peak, with around 19 hours of daylight in the far north of the UK.
The Met Office had already warned yesterday (25 March) that colder temperatures were a “major shock to the system”. The forecaster also added that there could be a risk of strong winds and cold nights with frost and icing in places.
