News: A cold week ahead as winter returns.
16th January 2023
Good afternoon,
With a spell of very warm weather over the last few weeks, we had all begun to believe that winter was over. Unfortunately it is back, probably with a vengeance.
Latest information from the met office* tells us that tonight we should expect wintry showers to continue across northern and northwestern coasts with some rain and hill snow in the far southwest. Elsewhere will be dry and clear but cold, with widespread frost, which may be severe in places.
As the week and month moves on, we are to expect further outbreaks of rain that will probably bring a chance of snow across central and northern areas, though mainly to higher ground. Further west, brighter conditions are likely, although with the showers pushing into some coastal areas. Over the weekend, and indeed the rest of the period, unsettled conditions are likely to persist. ( *Source, the Met Office; https://www.metoffice.gov.uk )
During the very cold spell before Christmas and the consequent demand, most services and suppliers were stretched to the limit, which caused quite significant backlogs across the whole of the UK. That was further hampered by supply issues and industrial action by some supporting industries, which saw further delays during a time that all suppliers needed to make higher than average numbers of deliveries.
Industrial action looks set to continue in some areas and the global situation with regards to oil remains uncertain. As such, we would urge our members to take advantage of the current, reasonable price levels - and to order ahead of what is likely to be another very busy period.