Yellow fog warning issued for southern England and Midlands

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for fog, anticipating travel disruptions across much of southern England and the Midlands from Sunday evening into Monday morning. The warning is active between 6pm on Sunday and 11am on Monday.

The affected regions include most of southern England, with the exception of the south-west, and all of the Midlands. Pockets of northern England and Wales, including cities like Liverpool, Sheffield, York, Cardiff, and Wrexham, are also included in the warning. Niamh Murray, a Met Office operational meteorologist, stated that while fog may be patchy elsewhere, it is expected to be less dense.

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Conditions Favour Fog Formation

Murray explained that current autumn and winter conditions create ideal circumstances for fog development. "We get much longer nights, and that allows temperatures to sort of fall away," she told the Press Association. "We get a longer period of cooling and also the temperatures are much lower, so they’re much closer to the temperature that we need for the air to become saturated and therefore form fog."

The meteorologist highlighted that light winds and clear skies, combined with long nights and low temperatures, form a "perfect recipe" for dense fog. She noted that if temperatures drop below freezing, the fog can be persistent and slow to clear the following day. The fog is predicted to be densest overnight on Monday in rural areas of the Midlands, Wales, and East Anglia, with the possibility of air frost.

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Potential Travel Disruptions

The Met Office has warned that visibility could decrease to 50 metres or less in affected areas. This reduction in visibility may lead to delays and cancellations for bus and train services. Furthermore, flights in and out of the country could also experience disruptions due to the heavy fog.

In contrast to the dry conditions in many areas, rainfall following the fog could provide some benefit to drought-stricken regions in the south-west. Murray indicated that slow-moving rain might bring accumulations of 50 to 70mm to these areas, which have experienced severe drought.