Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice have been issued, lasting four days as the UK is gripped by a spell of freezing weather.
If you’ve been out of the door today yet, you’ll have noticed it’s chilly – and there’s colder to come, with Scotland and Northern England expected to see snow, and the whole od England warned of the potential for a ‘rise in deaths’ due to the weather.
The ‘notable change’ comes after much of the UK and Ireland was battered with torrential rain and gusts by Storm Claudia, including unprecedented floods in Monmouth, where the high street was underwater.
Cold weather warnings have been issued by the UK Health Security Agency, with North West and North East England covered by an amber warning from today which will remain in place until 8am on Friday.
The Midlands and areas south of this are all covered by a yellow cold health warning, with the potential for fatalities, specially in those aged over 65, or with health conditions.
While prospects for building snowmen nationwide are unlikely, some areas will get such a dump it could block roads and cut off rural communities, and there could be disruption due to travel delays and power cuts, with icy roads also a concern.
A Met Office snow warning for Wednesday and Thursday, covering North East England, the Scottish Borders and Yorkshire and the Humber, says: ‘Snow showers will feed inland from the North Sea, giving significant accumulations in places.
‘Where these are most frequent, 2-5 cm will be possible at low levels, with 5-10 cm on hills above 100 m elevation, and potentially as much as 15-20 cm above 300m.’
Some fairly strong gusts could be associated with the showers and some isolated lightning strikes are possible at times.
Where could see snow in the UK?
According to the latest Met Office weather map, Scotland will see most snow tomorrow evening and night, while on Wednesday there will be more of a dusting in northern England, including places like Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Middlesbrough, and Hartlepool.
There are not currently any weather warnings in place, but the forecaster warned people to keep checking, as ‘it is possible warnings may be issued for snow and ice at times’.
A minimum temperature of -7°C was recorded on Saturday night in Tulloch Bridge, Scotland, marking the coldest night in the UK since March.
Why is it suddenly so much colder?
In other parts, warmer wetter conditions will be soon replaced by a ‘cold northerly flow’ from the Arctic, Met Office forecaster Dan Holley explained.
He said: ‘This will bring much colder conditions than of late and, whilst generally drier than recent days, there will also be a risk of wintry hazards, such as snow and ice.
