Express & Star

Temperatures could fall to minus 10 as Christoph gives way to the cold

A yellow weather warning for ice is in place along a large part of western coasts until 10am on Friday.

Published
Last updated
Winter weather Jan 21st 2021

Temperatures could drop as low as minus 10C in the coming days, as Storm Christoph gives way to colder winter weather this weekend.

Care home residents were among those evacuated after floods in several areas across the North West and Wales following days of heavy rain.

A Met Office forecaster has said, however, that it is going to be “more wintry now” as the storm moves away to the east.

Meteorologist Craig Snell added: “We’re losing the rain but gaining some colder and possibly some wintry weather too.”

A yellow weather warning for ice is in place along a large part of western coasts until 10am on Friday.

Winter weather Jan 8th 2021
Sledgers have fun in the snow surrounding the Angel of the North near Gateshead, Tyne and Wear (Owen Humphreys/PA)

The alert – which stretches from the Scottish Highlands, down to the north west of England and into Wales, as well as covering Northern Ireland – says there is the possibility of injuries from icy conditions on ground which is already wet.

An additional yellow warning for snow and ice is in place across northern parts of Scotland until Friday lunchtime.

The chilly weather will continue into the weekend, when temperatures could drop to minus 10C overnight in localised parts of Scotland, and could dip as low as minus seven in parts of England, Mr Snell said.

He went on: “It will be feeling cold, I think that certainly that will be something that we will all be noticing it will be colder than it was to start the week.”

“I think the main thing for most of us will be that we will see some frosty nights and with the ground wet from the rain we’ve had we may well see some icy patches,” he later added.

Dozens of care home residents were among those escorted from their homes as floodwaters rose in Cheshire on Thursday.

Around 40 residents were assisted out of the Weaver Court care home in Northwich, Cheshire, by fire crews with dinghies on Thursday afternoon, as most of the town centre laid under water.

Earlier in the day, Cheshire Fire and Rescue had said it was in the process of rescuing 21 people by boat from Lea Court nursing home in the town of Warrington.

Winter weather Jan 21st 2021
Rescuers were on the scene in Cheshire (Northwich Police)

Elsewhere, people were also told to leave their homes in the Didsbury and Northenden areas of Greater Manchester, Bangor-on-Dee in North Wales and in the Skewen area of Neath, North Wales.

Meanwhile, South Wales Police said on Twitter that the body of a man had been recovered from the River Taff near Blackweir in Cardiff on Thursday, with the death being treated as unexplained.

Elsewhere in Wales, emergency teams were called out to protect supplies of the Oxford University and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine following flooding at Wrexham Industrial Estate.

Three severe flood warnings – signifying a threat to life – remain in place on Friday morning on the River Dee at Farndon, Bangor-on-Dee and the Lower Dee Valley near Llangollen.

As of 5am on Friday morning, there were an additional 182 flood warnings and 176 less serious flood alerts still in place in England, 13 flood warnings and 27 flood alerts in Wales and four flood alerts in Scotland.

Areas which were hit the hardest by Storm Christoph experienced less rainfall on Thursday, with the highest daily total instead being recorded in Oxfordshire.

Overall, 31mm fell in Bicester between midnight and 8pm, and the second highest total was in Aberdeenshire, where 29mm fell over the same period.

“Thankfully the areas that saw a lot of the rain on Tuesday and Wednesday have certainly been a bit drier today,” Mr Snell said.

Environment Secretary George Eustice chaired a Cobra meeting in response to the ongoing flooding on Thursday afternoon, but reiterated “the danger has not passed”.

In a statement following the meeting, Mr Eustice said: “The water levels remain high and there is the risk of possible further flooding next week so everyone needs to remain vigilant, follow the advice and sign up for flood alerts.”

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.