WEATHER WATCH

Weather lore suggests a mild start to the year is an ill omen. This month may have started with record temperatures for the time of year but there has been a steady dip over recent weeks. Now much of England is barely seeing a mild day with the overall monthly mean now below average in rural places, where frosts have been severe. Many will be asking when the rain will return when you consider throughout January there has been just 0.43in near Berwick-on-Tweed and Bedford.

There is no sign of any appreciable rain in the forecast. But we know wet conditions will return, and the nature of our climate is such that they could then hang around for weeks. The coming days will see less frost and more sun. So for the time being we await that sting in winter’s tail!