WINTRY weather brought chaos to the Channel Islands yesterday, Thursday 21 November.
Snow, sleet, hail and high winds downed trees as the Island faced freezing temperatures throughout the day and night on Thursday.
A band of low pressure sent temperatures plummeting to low single digits on Wednesday night into early yesterday morning.
The high winds seen yesterday afternoon – which reached gusts of over 50 knots at St Helier Harbour – caused Jersey Airport to temporarily shut its runway so workers could clear debris and slush, a Ports of Jersey spokesperson told the JEP, delaying inbound and outbound flights.
“The runway was shut for 15 minutes to clear slush and debris. This was to ensure incoming planes could land safely,” the spokesperson said.
The winds also brought walls and fences down in the north of the Island.
A yellow snow warning was put in place by Jersey Met all day yesterday, warning that up to 5cm of snow could fall and reminding Islanders to take caution when travelling.
A small covering of snow did fall, mainly in the northern parishes.
But those hoping to build a snowman this year will have to remain patient, as “no more snow is on the horizon”, according to John Searson at Jersey Met.
“We’re back into warm air,” he explained.
Today’s forecast brings much milder highs of 8°C, much closer to the Island’s November average of 12°C.
Those temperatures will continue to climb into the weekend, as tomorrow’s forecast shows improvements again to above-average highs of 14°C bringing patchy rain and cloud with it.
High winds will return tomorrow, however, with strong south-east to south force six or seven winds predicted, perhaps occasionally reaching gale-force eight during Saturday afternoon.
Those strong gusts will continue overnight on Saturday and into Sunday morning before dropping to force five by Sunday afternoon.
