Met Office gives verdict on fog this weekend after hundreds of flights delayed

Fog that has caused delays to hundreds of flights in the UK is set to linger into the weekend, say forecasters.

Most of the country’s airports that have faced disruption due to murky weather over the past few days.

And unfortunately for anyone travelling this morning, the fog will most likely persist today, according to the Met Office.

In some parts of the UK, visibility could be as low as 100 metres it said, although did not issue any official warnings.

‘It’s that time of year when people are travelling around the country a lot and there are a lot of people on the roads,’ said Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick.

‘There is a lot of fog covering much of England, mainly the South East and central England, but the rest of the country is seeing quite a bit of thick fog too.

‘It will be pretty murky on Saturday morning and there will still be fog patches that will take a little longer to clear.’

Heathrow saw more than 408 flights delayed and 24 cancelled yesterday, and 82 delayed and eight cancelled so far today, according to tracker Flight Aware.

At Gatwick, 272 flights were delayed and 30 cancelled yesterday, while 100 have been delayed this morning and five cancelled.

A spokesperson for Nats, the UK’s main air traffic control provider, said on Friday: ‘Due to widespread fog, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place at several airports across the UK today. Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety.

‘We continue to monitor the situation and have a Met Office expert embedded within our operation to ensure we have the latest available information. Our teams are working closely with the airports and airlines to minimise disruption.’

Mr Eslick said the fog levels could sink a little lower on Saturday, so higher hills could be clearer.

The Met Office warned drivers in foggy areas to be careful on the roads.

Conditions should improve on Sunday, Mr Eslick said.

Some stronger winds are forecast on Sunday, he explained, which ‘will pick up and turn over these cloudy and murky conditions to help clear the fog’.

However, anyone hoping for some uplifting winter sun any time soon will probably be disappointed.

‘It looks like it won’t be as dank and horrible (early next week) but it will still be wet and windy across much of the country,’ Mr Eslick said.

The Met Office has put a yellow weather warning for much of Scotland on Monday and Tuesday, with heavy rain forecast.

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