Will London see snow today?
The short answer: probably not. But if you were awake yesterday morning, you might have caught London’s brief flirtation with winter.
While the North East battles blizzard conditions and amber warnings, London once again finds itself on the sidelines of the UK’s winter drama.
The question every expat is asking today is: Will we finally get some proper snow?
We already had our moment
If you slept through yesterday morning, you missed it.
Parts of London woke to a surprise flurry of snow on Tuesday, with Clerkenwell, Canary Wharf, Muswell Hill, Kilburn and Finchley all reporting snowfall. This included east London.
But don’t panic if you’re reading this from East London, South Africa. You’ll have a pleasant high of 23 degrees Celsius today.
Social media lit up with videos of excited Londoners filming the white stuff. The catch? It was too wet to settle. By the time most of us had our morning coffee, it was gone.
Today’s forecast: cold but clear
According to multiple forecasters including the Met Office, Netweather and AccuWeather, London has a flat zero percent chance of snow today.
We’re looking at temperatures dropping as low as -1 degree Celsius overnight, but no snowfall.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire is buried under 25cm of snow, Scotland is facing blizzards, and rural communities across the North are being cut off.
Watch out for ice
While we might not be seeing snow, the bigger danger for Londoners is black ice. With temperatures plummeting overnight, roads and pavements are turning into ice rinks by morning. If you’re driving, allow extra time and increase your stopping distance. Black ice is invisible until you’re sliding across it.
For walking, stick to main roads where possible. They’re more likely to have been gritted. And leave five minutes earlier than usual. Nothing says “I’m not from here” quite like a South African doing the penguin shuffle on icy pavement in takkies.
The London snow curse continues
For South African expats who moved here partly for the novelty of experiencing proper winters, London’s tendency to miss out on snow is one of life’s great frustrations. We get all the cold, the grey skies, the eye-watering energy bills, but none of the Instagram-worthy winter wonderland moments.
The North gets blizzards. We get drizzle at 2 degrees Celsius.
When will we see snow again?
Some long-range forecasts suggest possible snow for London on November 30 and December 14, but these are tentative at best. What we do know is that temperatures will stay brutally cold through Friday before warming up slightly over the weekend.
So if you’re hoping to build a snowman in Hyde Park today, you’re out of luck. But keep your phone charged. When London snow does arrive, it’s usually unexpected, brief, and absolutely worth capturing before it melts.