This is why you didn’t have to defrost your car this morning

Despite the freezing temperatures, you probably didn't have to scrape your car's windscreen

This is why you didn’t have to defrost your car this morning

Despite temperatures plummeting well below zero across the UK, you may have noticed that your car didn’t need defrosting this morning.

In simple terms, that’s because the air in Northern Europe is currently very dry. If there’s very little moisture in the air, it won’t freeze, and you won’t notice frost on your car windscreen.

“For a classic frosty night we need a few ingredients: low temperatures, clear skies, calm winds and moisture,” explained a Met Office spokesperson. “A clear, calm night gives excellent radiation conditions – by this we mean that the heat absorbed by the Earth’s surface during the day escapes readily back into space and allows temperatures to fall.”

While last night we experienced low temperatures, clear skies and calm winds, it fell short of having all the ingredients required for a hard frost.

“If the temperature falls to the dew point (the temperature to which air must cool for it to become saturated with water vapour) moisture will condense and form droplets on the ground’s surface. When temperatures fall below freezing the droplets freeze and we get frost.”

More than 20cm of snow could land in parts of the UK by the end of the Wednesday, as the ‘Beast from the East’ weather front hits Europe.

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Andrew Brady
Andrew Brady
Web editor at MR. Drives a 2005 Toyota MR2. Has a penchant for the peculiar.

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