Advertisement

UK weather: TV blackouts expected as record high air pressure sweeps Britain

Early morning mist over fields near Pewsey in Wiltshire as plunging temperatures are expected across the country this weekend with the mercury predicted to dip as low as -6C.
Early morning mist over fields near Pewsey in Wiltshire as plunging temperatures are expected across the country this weekend with the mercury predicted to dip as low as -6C.

Forecasters have warned of disruption to TV networks as record high air pressure is set to cause havoc with radio signals.

High pressue can bend or break signals and is expected to cause outages for Freeview, BT, TalkTalk, YouView and Plusnet customers across the UK.

Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna told MailOnline: “High pressure could well affect Freeview, causing signals to weaken and interfere with one another, due to a temperature inversion.”

“Incredible high pressure around 1050 millibars will be over us.”

Photographers wait to take picture of a stag in a frost-covered Richmond Park in south west London where overnight temperatures dipped to -3C.
Photographers wait to take picture of a stag in a frost-covered Richmond Park in south west London where overnight temperatures dipped to -3C.

Forecasters predict pressure will reach as high as 1050 millibars, close to the all-time record of 1053 millibars which was set in 1902.

Freeview also warned its customers that

A spokesperson for the company said: said: “High air pressure can bend or reflect TV and radio waves, which interferes with the signals being sent from transmitters to aerials.

“This means that your aerial is not able to pick it up the same quality of signal that it normally would.

READ MORE FROM YAHOO NEWS UK:

UK weather forecast: Cold snap continues as mercury dips below zero and fog coats country

Plan to repopulate Scottish island of Ulva begins with ... a herd of cattle

Victoria set to be battered by severe storms as Australian weather chaos continues

“As a result, some viewers may experience a pixelated picture, or in some cases a temporary loss of certain channels.”

The chilly weekend continued on Sunday as the mercury dipped below zero and fog coated large parts of the country.

The Met Office said Northern Ireland experienced its coldest night of the winter, while the temperature fell to -6.8C (19.8F) in North Yorkshire’s Topcliffe, and hovered around -1C across the capital.

The agency’s Alex Burkhill said a fog warning had been put in place over sections of the West Midlands and north-west England.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---

“It’s been a very frosty start but through the bulk of the day it’s going to be largely fine and largely sunny,” the forecaster said.

It would still be “quite chilly” with expected highs of 8C scattered across parts of England, Mr Burkhill said.

He added that there would be some rain for the Shetland Islands.

A mid-range cold weather alert has been issued by Public Health England from 6pm on Sunday to 6pm on Tuesday and the organisation is urging people to prepare for cold weather conditions and look out for those most at risk.