A NASA engineer has the best advice you can get when it comes to de-icing your car.

When you’re rushing to work and come outside to see that there is a thick layer of frost on your car, it can be a tough time indeed.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Instead of potentially being late and getting a rollocking from your boss, you can simply listen to TikToker @eden_tyres_and_servicing.

The automotive experts, which are based in the West Midlands, explained: “Here is the best way to defrost your windscreen according to a former NASA engineer.”

Can you guess what it is?

Do you want to know how to defrost your car? Read below (Getty Stock Images)

Well, there’s a whole process to it so go and grab a pen and come back when you’re ready.

Got it? Okay, good.

The four-step method to defrosting your car

So, the first thing you’re going to need to do is to get in your car and ‘turn on the car heater immediately at full blast’.

Then, you have to ‘turn on the car’s air conditioning, which will help soak up the remainder of any moisture inside’.

Once the above two have been completed, don’t forget to ‘turn off the car air circulation button’.

This is because, when it’s turned on, the ‘humidity is trapped inside’, which creates a nice bit of warmth.

Now, the last thing to do is ‘slightly unexpected’ as you now have to ‘open all of the car windows only ever so slightly.’

While it sounds like you’re undoing your first steps, in reality, ‘this will help exchange humidity in the car for the dry air that’s outside, and voila, a nice defrosted windscreen’.

After doing all of this for the hack, you’ll have successfully defrosted your car and you’ll be off to work in no time.

Now, it’s not known who this NASA engineer is, so take that part with a pinch of salt.

A NASA engineer approved this message (Getty Stock Images)

But it’s not just the TikToker who gave great advice as the commenters knew a trick or two too.

One commenter said: “Slight warm water in a bottle and boom 5 secs later. Being doing it for 27 years and no smashed window.”

To be honest, it’s definitely not a good idea to do that one as you very well might crack or smash your window.

There’s a reason why you shouldn’t introduce something hot to something frozen as you’ve all probably seen what happens to a Pyrex dish once it’s been taken out of the oven and placed on a cool counter- shattered glass everywhere.

Someone else suggested an alternative, writing: “A sealed plastic bag with water slightly above cold. Not even tepid. Rub all over windows. Works every time.”

Below tepid water might work.

Another simply uses the age-old heating trick, commenting: “My car doesn’t have these fancy buttons. I have to turn my car on and wait for the heating to heat up, which takes about 20-25 mins.”

Though, it appears that they use this method by force and not by choice.

Someone else suggested: “Ice scraper, proper Job, £1.99, takes 5 mins.”

So, next time your car is freezing and you’re in a rush, try what the auto shop suggests.

It’s simply not the UK if the weather can’t make its mind up, is it?

It only feels like yesterday that we were arguing with our housemates about how cold is cold enough to switch on the heating and now it suddenly looks like spring outside.

But don’t start getting your hopes up for actual warm weather as the Met Office has issued a warning over a ‘once in 250-year’ event set to happen in the UK.

And it seems this current winter has been quite the extraordinary one.

This winter technically began on 22 December 2023 and will still be here until 20 March.

The Met Office recently put a warning out that this winter period is the first in its observational records to see three Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) events.

Andrew Bret Wallis/Getty Images

The weather service’s research suggests the likelihood of this happening three times in just one winter period has a ‘one in 250-year chance’.

And with this winter being an El Niño winter, it’s more likely to happen.

El Niño is used to describe the warming of the sea surface temperature which happens every few years and usually peaks during December.

During these types of winters, we typically get a colder and drier end to the season – meaning it’s likely to be a chilly few weeks.

But having the effects of El Niño also means that 2024 could see even higher temperatures than the record-breaking 2023.

The current warning for SSW sees a disruption of the normal westerly air flow 10 to 50km above the earth.

The Met Office explains that this can block ‘mild, wet and windy weather’ and therefore increase the chance of ‘cold, dry weather’ for the UK.

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SSW don’t always mean cold weather and with the two earlier this winter we only had ‘intermittent drops in temperature’.

The agency says ‘typically around 70 percent of events are associated with a cold snap’.

So, either way, it’s looking like it’ll be a colder weekend as the SSW comes in to play.

Professor Adam Scaife, Head of Long-Range Forecasting at the Met Office, said: “Although we have not seen it before, we recently documented the chances of an unprecedented three SSW events happening in one winter. Our research work, using multiple computer simulations, showed that this could occur about once in every 250 winters.”

He added: “Although this is very rare, we also found that the chance of multiple SSW events is increased during El Niño and so the chance of multiple events this winter is raised.”

More than eight inches of snow is set to hit some parts of the UK, as almost a dozen amber and yellow weather warnings are issued right across the country.

The Met Office has issued a staggering 11 warnings across different parts of the UK from today to Friday (7 to 9 February).

Additional cold health alerts have been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), with heavy snow set to fall across parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The worst hit areas will see up to 21cm (8.3 inches) of snow fall, with the Met Office warning ‘some rural communities could become cut off’.

The weather service warns that people and vehicles will likely get stranded, with power cuts possible and phone service to drop out.

Drivers are worth noting the 20-second rule when driving in these upcoming snowy conditions.

Trains could also be cancelled and ‘untreated pavements will become impassable’ with falls and injury likely.

Two snow and ice warnings have been issued for Scotland on Wednesday, including pretty much the entire country north of Glasgow.

Thursday is when the snow bomb arrives, with 21cm expected to have settled in the Yorkshire Dales by 9am on Friday.

Getty Stock Image

Two amber snow warnings are in place on Thursday across England and Wales. In England, the warning runs from midday to 6pm and impacts the Peak District and south Pennines, including Bradford, Huddersfield, and western edges of Sheffield.

The amber warning in Wales covers huge swathes of the north, including Wrexham, Corwen, and Ruthin.

On Thursday, a yellow snow warning also covers almost the entire north of England and Midlands, including all Liverpool and Merseyside, Greater Manchester, North Wales, Nottingham, and Birmingham.

There’s also a yellow warning for rain across the entire south of England including Plymouth, Portsmouth, Brighton, and Dover.

Heading into Friday, a snow and ice warning is in place across the entirety of Northern Ireland, with the northern England and Midlands snow warning from Thursday remaining in place for the morning.

Getty Stock Image

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Chris Almond said: “There’s an increased signal for wintry hazards as we move through the week as cold air from the north moves over the UK.

“It’s from Thursday that the snow risk becomes potentially impactful, as mild air attempts to move back in from the south, bumping into the cold air and increasing the chance of snow where the two systems meet.

“While there are still lots of details to work out, the initial snow risk looks highest in northern England and Wales from Thursday.

“One to two centimetres is possible to low levels, with 10 to 20cm possible over the highest ground within the warning area. This snow is likely gradually change to sleet and rain later on from the south.”

UKHSA has Cold-Health Alerts in force for parts of England from Wednesday, highlighting the possibility of significant impacts for the health and the social care sector.

Amy Shaw, National Network Manager at National Highways, said: “Freezing conditions bring hazards such as snow and ice, so take every possible step to understand your journey in advance and allow lots of extra time when travelling to prepare for the unexpected.

“It is therefore always important to plan ahead for your journey, check the weather forecasts, and if weather conditions become challenging, adjust your driving behaviour and take extra care.”

With Australia having now rung in the new year already, plenty of us will be setting off fireworks later to see in 2025.

But the rockets and Roman candles won’t be the only thing lighting up the skies with colour tonight (December 31) thanks to a more natural phenomenon.

The Met Office has confirmed that the northern lights could be visible in the UK for seeing in the new year in style.

Typically, the aurora borealis is only seen in more northern areas, with people travelling to the likes of Iceland and Finland specifically in the hopes of seeing them.

However, as we know from some huge moments over the last year, they are sometimes visible further south, above our own homes.

Now that would be a New Year’s Instagram post. (Getty Stock)

And this evening could be a bit of a repeat of that with the Met Office predicting the northern lights could be visible in a wider area this evening.

“The auroral oval is likely to remain at background levels initially,” it explains in its aurora forecast for the Northern Hemisphere.

“However, from 31 Dec, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is forecast to arrive at Earth with a risk of G1-G2/Minor-Moderate geomagnetic storms which could produce visible aurora across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England. Slight chance of a G3/Strong storm.”

British Solar Astrophysicist Dr Ryan French also took to X to explain: “The Sun has really stepped up over the past few days, with frequent solar flares including a strong X-class event! A selection of these flares produced Earth-directed eruptions, expected to trigger a strong geomagnetic storm (bringing aurora) on the 31st!”

Although it’s probably worth noting how terrible the weather is going to be tonight across much of the UK when you’re hoping for a clear view.

It was previously explained that the aurora borealis are set to be visible further south than usual more often in the next year due to a flip of the Sun’s magnetic field.

Forget fireworks, give me the northern lights. (Getty Stock)

This shift in the sun’s magnetic field happens every 11 years or so and we’re currently at the tail end of ‘solar maximum’.

Basically, this is when there’s a peak in the number of sunspots, with solar flares being fired out and causing those iconic northern lights, which may as well start paying rent at this point. That would be the British thing to do anyway.

Space Weather Manager of the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC) Krista Hammond explained: “We’re now in the solar maximum phase, which means there’s more frequent sunspots and solar activity in general. While it’s not possible to know precisely what this means for individual Earth-directed solar events, it does mean there will likely be further chances of aurora visibility in the UK in the coming months.”

Scientists generally agree the solar maximum is going to be reached in 2025 and this would mean the area where the northern lights are visible will get even wider.