Summer makes a comeback in October

Sorry for the long wait, but it's been worth it the Weatherman is back and better than ever.

Over the last couple of days, we have been seeing very high and unseasonable temperatures across the UK. Well, maybe not the whole United Kingdom. Today  Northern Ireland saw temperatures creeping up to 17 degrees and outbreaks of rain throughout the day. However the temperatures were so high across the rest of the country that even records were broken.


Records broken

Sunbathers on Brighton Beach on Saturday

Today the record for highest temperature in October was broken with 29.9 celsius recorded in Gravesend in Kent at 2:42 in the afternoon, topping the previous record of 29.4 recorded March, Cambridgeshire on 1 October 1985. Even Scotland saw warm weather with temperatures in Edinburgh reaching 24.7 on Wednesday, the hottest day in Scotland at this time of year for 50 years. The hot weather is expected to continue with more records possibly being broken tomorrow. But is there a possibility that it will be another cold winter? After all on 27 October 2008, London experienced its first october snowfall for over 70 years. High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire even received 3cm of snow. That's hard to imagine with the conditions that we are experiencing now, but as we all know, we can see 4 seasons in one day in Britain. So it's possible that the weather could turn cold.

Snow in Brighton 2 December 2010

Cold Winter?
There are many rumours going around that it is set to be another cold winter and there are many reasons that are in favour of that outcome. Some people even believe that because of global warming the Gulf Stream is weakening and therefore we will get solder winters because there will be no mild air from the west to protect us. Another reason for another cold winter is that we are in a period of low solar activity, which means lower temperatures. These predictions have been made by James Madden who is a specialist long range forecaster. He also believes that the temperatures throughout the winter will be similar to what we saw in November and December last year. If we cast our minds back that was when we had the snowfall that lasted from 31 November until the 2 December. However the snowfall was more significant in other parts of the UK were there were several periods of snowfall during November and December. Madden believes that the whole winter will be similar to that two month period. We will have to wait and se whether Madden was correct.

Will the warm conditions subside to make way for winter? We'll just have to wait and see.