Brits are set to enjoy more sub-tropical warmth over the coming days before temperatures plummet next week with widespread freezing temperatures and lows of -4C.
It was the UK’s warmest day of the year on Tuesday as temperatures reached 17C in mid-Wales and the balmy conditions are set to continue.
There will be a cold start to Wednesday, though, and there is a Met Office yellow warning for dense fog covering the east of the country which will run until 9am today.
It states: “Areas of dense fog are expected to cause some challenging travel conditions through Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.”
But that will clear during the day for more mild temperatures in the mid-teens.
BBC weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker said: "For the rest of the week more cloud, but it will remain on the mild side … high pressure is slipping away to the east and it is giving way to these weather systems off the Atlantic.
"So through Wednesday the weather front sweeps across the UK only very slowly but because the high pressure is still close by, this weather front is going to be basically dried out by the high pressure here and so very little rain reaching the Midlands and the southeast."
The temperatures are so warm for the time of year due to subtropical air which is mainly affecting the south of the country, with colder air in Scotland.
Then on Friday it is expected to get very windy across the UK and with gales of around 80mph in northern Scotland.
Looking further ahead, weather forecasters have been predicting temperatures to plunge by the end of the month with lows of -11C.
The icy chills are expected due to a Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) – the same phenomenon that ushered in 2018’s Beast from the East at an identical time in the calendar year.
And before that weather maps from WXCharts are showing temperatures to be already dropping next week with lows of -4C on February 23 in Scotland while the mercury up and down the country is close to 0C.
And snow charts show that there could be up to 10 centimetres falling in Scotland and scattered flurries elsewhere.
Nick Finnis, from Netweather, said: "An SSW means there could be much colder and wintry weather before spring arrives. They trigger colder conditions in the UK on average two out of every three times they occur."
The Beast from the East was a winter storm that saw as much as 22 inches of snowfall in some areas and caused an estimated £1.2 billion in damage to the national economy.
Today:
Patchy fog across eastern areas will clear more quickly this morning, remaining bright and mild until later. A band of cloud and rain in the northwest will move east but weaken. Blustery showers following in the northwest.
Tonight:
Cloud increasing from the west with outbreaks of rain and drizzle developing, spreading to all but northern Scotland by the end of the night. Further showers in the far north.
Thursday:
Cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle, although some bright spells and showers in the far north. More persistent rain and strengthening winds developing later in the northwest. Mild.
Outlook for Friday to Sunday:
Very windy in the north Friday with some rain, heavy at times. Drier but breezy further south. Rain at times in the south over the weekend, drier in the north.
