Weather expert warns of chilly nights in Aylesbury Vale while daily temperatures will remain slightly above seasonal average

After the very cold weather of the previous week, temperatures have returned closer to average for the time of year over the past week. High pressure had been sat across southern parts of the UK early last week. Air becomes stagnant within high pressure and at this time of year with little solar radiation and long nights, surface temperatures become increasingly cold – particularly when skies are clear. This helps the air above the surface cool too resulting in very low air temperatures at night.

Unusually, during the first half of last week temperatures across Scotland were much higher than across southern England. Aberdeen reached 15.8⁰C on Tuesday 24 January whilst maximum air temperatures in Buckinghamshire were generally 3-5⁰C. Similarly, minimum air temperatures dropped to almost minus double digits across the Vale early last week whilst parts of northern Scotland dropped no lower than a balmy 10C. This was due to south-westerly winds bringing in much milder Atlantic air into Scotland around the high pressure that was sat over the south of the UK giving the cold and settled conditions here.

This unusual pattern is unlikely to continue this week however, as certain parts of Scotland are subject to a Met Office yellow warning with winds expected to reach speeds of 80 miles per hour.

Yet, a big change occurred last Tuesday night (24 January). Milder air in the upper atmosphere was moving into the area but the air near the surface was still very cold. This made the air very moist allowing freezing fog to form widely. However, in places this also produced frozen drizzle. This covered surfaces in a thin layer of ice making pavements and side roads incredibly icy last Wednesday morning!

As for the next few days, high pressure will mostly be in charge bringing mainly dry conditions with variable amounts of cloud. Temperatures generally above average although with light winds it will be chilly at night under clear skies.

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