Bristol Weather: Met Office issues yellow weather warning for fog

A weather warning has been sounded to Bristolians as foggy conditions descend on the city. The Met Office said the “dense fog” was likely to cause travel disruption in Bristol and the surrounding area this afternoon (Thursday, December 1) as it issued the yellow level alert.

The weather warning will be in place from 4pm until 11am on Friday (December 2). The Met Office warned that until then “slower journey times” with “delays to bus and train services” were possible, and there was also a chance of “delays or cancellations” to flights.

The warning covers not just Bristol but also parts of Wales including Cardiff, the West Midlands and Oxfordshire. Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “If you’ve started the day with poor visibility, don’t expect a vast improvement into the afternoon - things are going to remain fairly static for most of us.

“That means that where we’ve got the extensive low cloud, mist and dense fog through central and southern [parts of the country], it’s just going to stick around, basically. There’s not much at this time of year to lift it.”

Mr McGivern said that temperatures would be near freezing in these areas at around 2C. Large areas of fog will “form once again” over the southern parts of England overnight, but an “easterly breeze” will hopefully have lifted the fog by mid-afternoon, he added.

Met Office advice for travelling in fog

• Avoid travel if possible
• Drive very slowly with dipped headlights, full-beam lights reflect off the fog causing a ‘white wall’ effect
• Keep an eye on your speed - fog can give the illusion of moving in slow motion
• Use fog lights, but remember to turn them off when the visibility improves
• Don’t hang on the tail lights of the car in front, rear lights can give a false sense of security
• Watch out for freezing fog which is made of water droplets that freeze on contact with objects such as the pavement, road, car, etc. It can quickly form a layer of ice.