SUB ZERO temperatures, heavy snow and strong winds – Storm Darcy is preparing to make its presence felt in the Wokingham borough.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for snow and ice over the coming days, and the week ahead is predicted to be some of the coldest weather for years.
The storm is expected to start from around 6pm this evening (Saturday, February 6). Heavy rain will arrive from around 8pm and it is expected to start turning to snow as the evening goes on.
Currently heavy snow is forecast from around midnight to 5am. However, there is uncertainty over this: temperatures are above freezing, although the wind chill will make it feel much colder: around -6ºC at times.
It is possible that it stays as rain rather than turning to snow.
Another snow shower is predicted around 4pm, and the temperature will hover around freezing all day, but wind chill will make it feel much colder: -8ºC.
Monday is expected to be dry all day but also very cold. Temperatures will be around -2ºC for most of the day, only hitting 0ºC around lunchtime. The windchill means it feels like -8ºC.
The same picture pervades for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Thursday, February 11, will see temperatures stay low before going above zero around lunchtime, dipping again in the evening when more snow is forecast.
Friday is currently expected to be warmer, with temperatures hitting a balmy 3 ºC, but the windchill means it will stay feeling like it is below freezing.
The BBC, which used a different company for its forecasts, thinks it could snow for longer tomorrow, and also on Thursday, and see warmer temperatures across the week.
Snow is very difficult to forecast as it relies on certain atmospheric conditions. And it is possible for it to snow in some parts of the borough compared to others. The forecasts update frequently and may have changed again by the time you read this.
A couple of years ago, sledging was possible in Joel Park in Wokingham, but if you’d been in Sol Joel Park in Earley you would have been disappointed as it was raining instead.
