Thick fog threatens Monday morning travel as yellow warning issued

Dense fog threatens Monday morning rush hour as thick blankets of low cloud cover large swathes of the country overnight.

A yellow weather warning for fog has been issued for most of the south of England and the midlands this morning.

The warning was in place from 6pm on Sunday and remains until 11am on Monday.

A separate yellow warning for fog has also been issued for Northern Ireland and runs until 10am.

The Met Office has warned the thick fog could cause difficult travel conditions and possible delays. The forecaster also said there is a chance of delays or cancellations to flights.

Visibility could fall to less than 50m in places making driving difficult. bUt the fog is expected to thin later on Monday morning.

The fog is expected to lift slowly throughout the morning, but some patches may linger into the afternoon in central England and Wales.

Most of the country is forecast to see sunny spells but chilly weather as temperatures are expected to drop to around 8C in London this morning and only reach 5C in parts of Scotland before midday.

Tonight clearer skies are expected across the midlands and the north with fog patches and a rural frost to developing in parts. Temperatures are forecast to drop to freezing in parts of Scotland overnight while Peterborough could see temperatures drop to 2C.

Niamh Murray, Met Office operational meteorologist, said current weather conditions are the “perfect recipe” for fog.

“With autumn and winter and getting fog during this time of year, we get much longer nights, and that allows temperatures to fall away,” she said.

“We get a longer period of cooling and also the temperatures are much lower, so they’re much closer to the temperature that we need for the air to become saturated and therefore form fog.

“Another thing that we need to form fog is quite light winds, not absolutely no winds.

“We just have the perfect recipe at the moment: light winds, clear skies, long nights, to allow that fog to develop. And particularly if we see the negative numbers (temperature in degrees Celsius), it can be quite stubborn to clear the next day.”

What’s the weather forecast for the next five days?

Today:

Fog slowly lifting through the morning, though some patches may linger into early afternoon across parts of central England and Wales. Otherwise, largely dry with sunny spells for many. Showers near eastern coasts will gradually fade. Feeling chilly.

Tonight:

Clearer skies across central and northern areas will allow fog patches and a rural frost to develop. Cloudier, breezier and milder conditions spread across southern parts with rain arriving.

Tuesday:

Cloud and rain gradually push north across parts of England and Wales, locally heavy in the southwest later. Elsewhere, many areas stay dry with bright spells after slow clearing fog.

Outlook for Wednesday to Friday:

Spells of rain continue across the south through midweek. Colder conditions develop further north with showers, some turning wintry. Frosts become increasingly widespread later.