Scotland was hit by a second bout of freak sandstorms today, causing an estimated £50,000 damage to crops.
Farmers in Elgin, Moray, had just spent a week clearing up after freak winds created 4ft high sand drifts on Tuesday when more gales swept in, whipping up further sandstorms and devastating crops.
Barley farmer Cameron MacIver said: 'There's parts around my farm where the only thing showing above the sand is the top bit of the fence.'
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Freak weather: Farmer Cameron MacIver, from Forres in Moray, walking on one of his sand covered barley fields
Strong winds: Local farmers in Moray like Mr MacIver had just finished clearing up from last week's sandstorms when another hit the lowlands today
Tropical: Cameron MacIver contemplates the long clear-up on one of his sand-covered barley fields
'The last bad case was when I was very young in the mid-70s and the mess it left was just incredible.'
Moray Council in eastern Scotland mobilised snowploughs to clear the roads, but today’s winds were threatening to undo much of the work.
Cameron MacIver explained: 'The effect has been felt far and wide again now. I'm hearing stories from all over the place that people are having exactly the same problems from Nairn to Buckie.'
Murray White, the National Farmers' Union branch secretary for Inverness, Nairn and Moray, said: 'It's going to take some farmers several days to clear the sand away.
'We might have lost 10 per cent of the harvest, and then again we might have lost 50 per cent. It's too early to say at the moment.
'The situation will only become apparent over the coming weeks when crops either grow or don't.'
Bizarre sight: Sand dunes, some up to 4ft high, in Cameron MacIver's fields
Barley fields: How the fields in Moray should look. Mr MacIver estimates that the sandstorms could cost farmers tens of thousands of pounds in lost crops
Temperatures are expected to soar to a glorious 22C (71F), with southern areas enjoying one of the warmest days of the year so far.
If the mercury rises as high as predicted, it will be as hot as the city of Tangiers in Morocco – and warmer than California, where it is expected to reach just 19C (66f).
But the country will have a north-south split. While southerners enjoy relatively balmy conditions, those in northern England and Scotland will see temperatures dipping to zero at night.
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And the chillier weather is expected to spread south by the weekend, bringing clouds and rain to most places. Forecaster Charlie Powell said: ‘As we move into the middle of this week we could see one of the warmest days of the year so far, but only in a few places.
‘We will have a weather system that essentially cuts the UK in half. Temperatures in the upper half – northern England and Scotland – will be around 9-11C (48-52f), which isn’t too far off normal for the time of year.
‘But in the southern half of the UK we are likely to see fairly dry, fine weather, sunshine and temperatures that could reach 21C (70f).’
Low visibility: Sandstorms swept across Moray covering roads and fields
Dangerous: Driving conditions on the A96 near Elgin in Moray were poor yesterday as gales sent clouds of sand racing across the land
Hazy: The sandstorms came less than a week after a first storm was cleared up by the council
However, he warned the good weather would not last, adding: ‘By the time we get to Friday that band will have pushed its way to the south of the country. Most of the country can expect a cool and showery end to the week.
‘We can expect highs of 11C (52f), which is average for April. And on Saturday and Sunday we’ll have a band of rain from the north-west arriving in the south-east.'
The warmest day of the year so far was April 14, when 22C (72f) was recorded in Kent.
But these glimpses of good weather are little comfort to businesses struggling to deal with one of the coldest springs in decades.
In Lincolnshire, organisers of the Spalding Flower Parade are being forced to import hundreds of thousands of tulips from France because of a shortage of British blooms caused by cold weather.
Manager Kathleen Codd said there was ‘very little likelihood’ of getting enough homegrown flowers before the event on May 4.
Hayfever sufferers will feel the effects of the highest pollen levels for half a century, but the rest of us should enjoy a balmy few days - in which southern England will enjoy warmer weather than Hollywood (where it's currently around 19C) before it starts to feel unseasonably cold again.
Hay fever expert Professor Roy Kennedy said the cold March and start to April means the period until June will see its highest pollen levels since 1962.
Peak pollen levels normally occur later in summer, but the bitter March delayed the start of the pollen season by a month, with tree pollen now soaring and the expected 'phenomenon of tree pollen colliding with grass pollen' from mid-May.
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Meanwhile the extended wintry conditions mean that spring is blooming late, quite literally.
Last year Britain’s gardens, parks and woodlands were awash with a stunning riot of colour, but this spring has yet to bloom after a bitter March followed hard on the heels of a cold winter.
With spring delayed by over a month and no real signs of seasonal flowers such as tulips or bluebells, many will be wondering if Britain will ever burst into bloom.
But garden writer Nigel Colborn, a former Royal Horticultural Society vice-chairman, says that with the arrival of warmer weather, we are likely to have a much shorter but more intense spring awakening.
Forecasters are predicting temperatures will remain higher than the seasonal average for the rest of the week – a boon for gardeners.
Mr Colburn said: ‘Plants, particularly spring varieties, have a self-survival kit.
'They won’t grow until the temperature is above 4C (39F) degrees for a period of time. Once warm weather sticks around they’ll kick into rapid growth.
'Because of the bitterly cold March, we are running about a month late compared to a normal season: Instead of it being a drawn-out spring, we are going to have an explosion of colour, but over a shorter period.We will soon be treated to a fantastically colourful bounty.’
After a pleasant, sunny weekend for much of the country, the Met Office says temperatures will remain slightly warmer than the seasonal average this week – reaching 20C (68F) by Thursday in the south east.
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'Mixed bag': Met Office forecasters are predicting a week of changeable weather
But it is still too soon to pack away your winter woollens. At the weekend temperatures are due to plummet to a chilly 6C (43F).
May is almost upon us, but there were still patches of frost in parts of the UK overnight between Saturday and Sunday, with a low of -2.7C in Charlwood, Surrey.
While there will be some sunny spells across the UK in the coming week, Britons are advised to keep their umbrellas and jackets close to hand along with their sunglasses.
Mr Lawrence described bands of rain moving in from the Atlantic, bringing wind and showers to the UK.
'This week on the whole is on the unsettled side and quite changeable.
'We've got bands of rain moving in from the Atlantic, although it won't be a wash out.'
'A fair bit of cloud' is also expected throughout the week, he said, with conditions likely to change from sunny to grey even 'within each day'.
'Temperatures in the south might manage 20C in the South East later in the week, perhaps by Thursday,' said the forecaster, who added that current temperatures were fairly typical for the time of year.
'So it will be warm at times in the south. Broadly speaking we've got a north-south split, with the north wetter and windier, but still with some sunshine. In the south it will be less wet and windy.'While temperatures dropped to 2.7C in Surrey overnight, Lossiemouth in Scotland recorded a low of 7.6C, in a 'flip' of the typical pattern of warmer conditions in the south.