UK weather: Icy temperatures forecast after predicted warmest New Year’s Eve on record

First week of 2022 will also bring ‘corridor of thicker cloud and rains’, Met Office says

Despite Britain heading heading for what could be the warmest New Year’s Eve on record, meteorologists have predicted that normal service will resume soon after the bells, with the return of icy-cold temperatures in early January.

The Met Office predicts “spells of rain and strong winds” and “decent drier and brighter interludes” in the final hours of 2021, in a period that is set to be “exceptionally mild”.

Forecasters believe the final day of the year could even see highs of 15C in some parts of the UK – far above normal average temperatures for the festive period, which typically fall between 7C and 8C in the south.

“The record is 14.8C on New Year’s Eve and that was in 2011,” said Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst. “Temperatures look like they’ll be 14-15C so it is possible that temperatures could be that value.”

But according to his Met Office colleague Craig Snell,“there is a trend for temperatures to return nearer to normal” after New Year’s Eve, when average night-time temperatures are 2 to 3C in the south of the UK and 0C in the north – raising the prospect of frost in parts of Scotland and England.

“That's not surprising as temperatures are way above average,” Mr Snell said, adding: “For this time of year, if we see any clearer slots at night then that does give some risk for frost, particularly across the northern half of the UK.”

According to a general Met Office forecast on Tuesday, the first week of 2022 will also bring a “corridor of thicker cloud and rains”, to the west of which temperatures will return to close to average levels.

This will develop into northwesterly winds, bringing showers which will become wintry across the far north of the country, the Met Office said.

But the forecaster predicted that “moving beyond the midweek period” – with Wednesday falling on 5 January – more “changeable conditions” are likely to spread across the UK.

“Spells of rain will be accompanied by milder conditions, these will likely be interspersed with showers and nearer average temperatures,” the Met Office said. “During this time the most unsettled conditions will most likely be towards the northwest, and most settled towards the southeast.”

Additional reporting by PA