Snow forecasts to blazing sunshine – How Sheffield’s weather has changed in a matter of days

Tuesday, March 30, is set to be the hottest day so far this year, with many people travelling to open spaces across the city to bask in the sun and enjoy the conditions that feel more like summer than spring.

Met Office hour-by-hour weather forecast on Tuesday as Sheffield set to be hotter than Barcelona

The unusually hot weather today, comes after snow was forecast over the weekend with a dusting seen by residents on the hills near Bradfield.

More snow is forecast over the Easter weekend with temperatures expected to drop moving into Sunday, according to the Met Office.

Nick Silkstone, a deputy chief Meteorologist covering the medium-range period, said: “From the middle of next week, once again, we expect to see a change in the weather.

"Although there are still some uncertainties in the outlook there are signs a high-pressure system could develop by the end of next week allowing cold air from the north to return across the UK bringing another dip in temperatures for Easter weekend, and even a risk of some wintry showers in the northeast.”

The changeable weather has left many residents across the city bemused.

However, Alistair Mclean, who is in charge of the weather station at Weston Park Museum, has said that March is the standout month for noticing massive changes, despite the temperatures being unusual.

Alistair said: “March is often quite a changeable month, among the whole the weather is pretty changeable at the best of times because of our position as an island with the Atlantic on one side of us, and a massive continent on the other, it kind of effects all the different air masses that are fighting for supremacy around us."

He added: “Our records for March go back to 1883, and our warmest day is from the 29th March 1965, which saw a temperature of 23.6, our reading today so far is 21.3, so we’re approaching that record.

"But you can count almost on two hands the number of times that we have had temperatures above 20 degrees in March; it has only happened 11 times in our recording history, and the last time was in 2012, so we can definitely say that these temperatures that we’re getting at the moment are unusual."

Sheffield has its own weather station based at Weston Park Museum and sends weather and temperature reports to the met office.

The station was set up after the Department of Health lobbied Sheffield Corporation to install one to help the health bodies predict when outbreaks of disease were coming, so medical teams could prepare.

In September 1882, the curator of Weston Park Museum, Elijah Howarth, took up the task and was later made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society.

How a Sheffield weather station has been used to predict the spread of infectious diseases - and played a vital role in the fight against the Nazis

Speaking about how the station serves the city, Alistair said: “We have an inquiry service, so one of the ways we fund the weather station is through people making inquiries, wanting to know what the weather has been doing on a particular date, and it can be for any reason from construction through to people making insurance claims, the police wanting to know if it was raining at a particular time and date for court cases and for people that are just fascinated with the weather.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a digital subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.