Britons set to feel chill as autumn finally arrives

Britons will feel a chill in the air tomorrow after a period of unseasonably warm weather comes to an end.

The mercury peaked at an unseasonably high 18.6C (65.48F) in Southampton yesterday, as well as in Wisley, Surrey, but temperatures are set to drop tomorrow.

Andy Ratcliffe, a forecaster at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There's a cold front today pushing south across Scotland, Northern Ireland and into northern England and Wales.

"It looks like there will be strong gusts of wind of up to 70mph along the cold front too."

"The cold front will also give some large rain falls."

Highs of 17C (62.6F) are expected in southern England today, but these will drop to 14C (57.2) tomorrow.

"Tomorrow is when we'll start to feel a chill in the air," the forecaster said,

On Wednesday night, temperatures will plunge to around 1C (33.8F), and could be as low as -1C (30.2F) in northern parts of the country.

Mr Ratcliffe said: "It's going to be pretty cold everywhere across the UK on Wednesday night, with widespread ground frost expected in the whole of the UK and perhaps air frost in places too."

However, by the end of the week conditions should be milder as a result of weather systems moving in from the Atlantic.

The cooler weather comes after record-breaking 29C (84.2F) days at the beginning of October.

PA