Met Office warns more frost ‘likely’ after coldest May night in five years

Temperatures dipped to -6C in the UK this week

The Met Office has told Brits to expect more unseasonably cold weather in the coming days after the coldest May night in five years.

Temperatures plummeted to -6.1C on Wednesday (May 6) in northern Scotland, with subzero temperatures also recorded in other parts of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland. The Met Office said this was the coldest May night in the UK since 2021.

While temperatures were widely milder on Thursday (May 7), the Met Office says conditions are expected to turn warmer for southern parts of the UK towards the end of the week. However, cooler air is set to linger across northern parts of the country.

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The Met Office said more frosty weather is ‘likely in the coming nights’. In a post on X, the forecaster wrote: “We’ve had some frosts this month and there’s more pockets likely in the coming nights. This map shows it’s not that uncommon to get air frosts late in spring.”

A graphic posted on X shows the average date of the last air frost in the UK over the past 30 years. It shows frosts as late as June in northern parts of Scotland, with May frosts also not uncommon in much of Scotland and parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For much of England, the average date of the last air frost falls in April – and March in many coastal areas.

An air frost is defined as the air temperature being below the freezing point of water at a height of at least one metre above the ground, the Met Office explained.

This week, cooler temperatures have also been accompanied by wet weather for some. The Met Office forecast for Thursday night into Friday morning (May 8) says a band of rain will move southeastwards across Scotland and Northern Ireland, with clear spells and ‘a scattering of showers’ elsewhere.

Friday is also set to bring wet weather to Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, with longer spells of rain throughout the weekend.

Weekend temperatures are expected to be ‘warm initially in the south, but turning cooler from the north’, the Met Office said.

Beyond the weekend, the Met Office long-range forecast, which runs from May 12 to May 21, states: “Changeable and at times rather unsettled conditions look to dominate through the middle part of May, with low pressure often close by.

“This means periods of rain or showers, some of which could be heavy, for many places, though some drier interludes are also expected.

“For the most part, temperatures are likely to be close to or perhaps a little below normal, with winds often blowing from a northwesterly quadrant. By the end of this period, pressure may increase towards the southwest, which could bring more in the way of dry weather here.”