One final cold night
Monday turned out a splendid day in the Peak District. After a little rain just before dawn the cloud soon broke up and we had a day of broken cloud and sunny periods with only a light breeze. It turned out to be the best day for outdoor activities for some time. In Tideswell 2.6 hours of sunshine were measured, making it the sunniest day since Sun 26th Nov.
With some cloud clearances this evening sharp dips in temperature are starting to occur as the graphic below shows.
Big changes are afoot for tomorrow as an active low pressure system approaching the British Isles from the Atlantic pushes rain and strong winds rapidly eastwards across the country. This is expected to reach the Peak District during the early afternoon and with cold air still in place there may be snow for a time at high levels. In Tideswell we may see a short spell of sleet or wet snow. However, any snow will turn to rain later as temperatures rise.
During the remainder of this week very unsettled weather is expected and it will be wet and windy at times. During Wednesday southerly winds may gust to more than 50 mph in Tideswell and in exposed areas higher up gusts will be much stronger.
There are some hints that next week may see a gradual change back to colder weather but this is uncertain at present.
The animation below shows the predicted accumulation of rainfall over the next 5 days. Given the very dynamic nature of the weather pattern this should be taken as indicative of the nature of the evolution rather than as a firm forecast.
