Londoners were told to “dig out the gloves” as they faced a bitterly cold return to work after the festive break.
After a mild spell over the holiday period, forecasters warned that temperatures in the capital this week will peak at a chilly 7C during the day and plunge as low as 2C overnight — with the chance of low fog patches increasing by Friday.
The UK is experiencing what is known as “sudden stratospheric warming” — a jump in temperatures that leads to colder winter conditions.
The Met Office with Public Health England (PHE) has issued a level-2 "alert and readiness" cold weather alert across northern and central parts of England into the weekend.
The Met Office tweeted: “Dig out the gloves if you’re up early, it’s getting much colder overnight.”
It is the same phenomenon that led to the heavy snowfalls of early 2018. The Met Office today said it could have an impact on London weather towards the middle of the month.
Forecaster Helen Roberts said: “It is feeling much colder this week than before, and towards the middle of the month it will make conditions much more changeable.
“While it is technically possible that Beast from the East-style heavy snowfall will return, we just don’t know yet whether it will happen.”
A high pressure anchored over the UK has created still conditions and prevented rain coming across the country, leading to the cold weather.
Overnight in the UK temperatures dropped as low as -6C.
Grahame Madge from the Met Office said foggy conditions will “remain a challenge” over the next few days.
He said the colder conditions being felt are on par with previous years with maximum daytime temperatures set to peak around 6 degrees over the next few days.
