UK weather forecast: ‘Snow moon’ to rise as hottest ever day in February possible this week

While a “snow moon” supermoon will rise tonight, it does not herald a return of cold weather across Britain, as near-record temperatures are forecast to sweep the UK this week.

Scotland is the most likely area to see its highest February measurement since records began.

Temperatures in the south could reach 18C on Saturday, but would have to rise to 19.7C to break the 1998 all-time high for the month which was recorded in Greenwich, London.

Before the warm bright weather arrives, most of the UK will see cloud cover and there will be heavy rain in some areas, all of which is expected to make viewing the snow moon difficult.

Met Office spokesman Richard Miles told The Independent: “A lot of things have to align to hit the 19.7C record for February 1998 [in England] as that is pretty warm.

“You might well see Scotland getting a record for February because that stands at 17.9C at the moment and it’s going to be close to that sort of level there. It’s all due to the warmer air coming up from the south west, and it’s that warmer, moister air being driven up by the systems coming in from the Atlantic. They are normal patterns for February, although just very mild.

He added: “At the end of February there is still the possibility of cold weather – it is still winter, but no cold snaps are expected in the coming days. It’s going to be dry most places with some decent spells of sunshine.”

Darren Tansley, a mammal ecologist at the Wildlife Trust told The Independent the unseasonably warm weather could have a detrimental effect on hibernating species such as dormice, hedgehogs and bats.

“They could be coming out of hibernation too early, which means they’re active at a time when really they should be reserving their body fat to get over the slack food period,” he said.

“These species will be looking for food that will not be abundant at this time of year – insects are going to be in very low supply for example.

“Dormice are not going to be finding fruits and berries or anything like that at the moment, so they’ll be using their energy reserves after coming out of hibernation without finding any of the food they’d expect once the wake up.”