The UK Is Hotter Than California, In This Week's Most Surprising News

The USA's west coast has been hit by 'atmospheric river'
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rdonar via Getty Images

Weather in the UK is set to be hotter than California this weekend in an unexpected turn of events for February.

Britain can look forward to unusually high temperatures and clear skies, while the Golden State is hit by severe storms.

A Met Office spokesperson told HuffPost UK the 14C temperatures seen across the UK on Valentines Day were “unusual”.

“Pretty much across the country we’re seeing nice weather being brought to us by high pressure and southerly winds from the Mediterranean and southern Spain,” he added.

High temperatures are set to stay on Saturday and Sunday, but forecasters warn the sun is likely to be replaced by clouds.

Meanwhile, over on the West Cost of the United States, California is experiencing an ‘atmospheric river’ weather front, which sees a deep plume of moisture stretching across a certain area.

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Heavy snows have been seen across the state
ASSOCIATED PRESS

This has led to heavy rains, snow and winds hitting the region, causing chaos in the usually warm climate.

Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski told USA Today that on Thursday: “Enough rain will fall in the major cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego and others to lead to incidents of urban flooding.”

Five passengers suffered minor injuries when a Delta Airlines flight on its way to Seattle from southern California hit severe turbulence and was forced to make an emergency landing in Reno.

Posts on social media showed drinks cart being upended and beverages being thrown everywhere.

Passenger Joe Justice tweeted: “We did a nose dive, twice.” But he added that the aircraft’s crew “handled it perfectly”. 

According to the LA times, the rain was so heavy in San Francisco cars were submerged in floodwater, with major highways closed.

And so much snow has fallen on Mammoth Mountain that the ski resort will remain open until July 4 – it usually closes in April.

A rare anomaly back on home soil saw some mountains in northern Scotland recording the warmest temperatures in the country, with predictions they could reach as high as 16 degrees.

The Met Office said this is because of the ‘Foehn Effect’ – when one side of a mountain absorbs all of the moisture as air travels up, leaving the drier, warmer air to descend down the other side, raising temperatures.

The average temperature for this time of year is around 8C.

The warmest Valentine’s Day on record was in 1988, when 19C was recorded in Somerset.