Arctic cold front brings Britain its coldest autumn night so far as temperatures plunge to single digits

From the Newshound archive · first published 6 October 2026 · last updated 7 October 2026.

An autumn leaf scene shared by the Met Office, whose forecasters say temperatures will drop to single figures by Thursday morning before recovering towards 19C in the south-east by Friday.

London experienced a 10C temperature fall in just 24 hours, with the evening rush hour sitting at just 12C after highs of 22C on Tuesday. The jet stream moving south is pulling Arctic air down across the UK, bringing to an end a streak of more than 115 days without a day below 20C somewhere in the country. Met Office meteorologist Claire Nasir warned Thursday morning will turn cold "wherever you are", with towns and cities dropping to 5-6C and rural spots colder still.

Parts of northern England and Scotland are expected to see their first grass frost of the season by dawn on Thursday.

The cold snap also brings 20-30mm of rain to southern and eastern England, where nearly three-quarters of the country remains in drought.

Snow is forecast for elevated terrain in Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland on Saturday, with the Scottish Highlands potentially seeing wintry showers from around 6am.

suaragarut.idUK Weather Temperatures Drop as Arctic Air Brings Autumn Cold Evening StandardLondoners hit by sudden 10C temperature drop today as rain drenches capital LBCTemperatures set to drop as parts of the UK brace for coldest night of autumn so far The IndependentMapped: UK set for coldest night of autumn so far as Arctic wind brings first frost GB NewsPolar vortex to send mercury plummeting into single digits as Britain set for coldest night of autumn so far BBC NewsUK set for coldest night of autumn so far msn.comBritain set for coldest night of autumn so far as temperatures plunge to single digits across UK

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