October has had quite the turbulent start with Storm Amy set to affect much of the UK this evening and through to Saturday. It looks like October has some more turbulent weather in store with new weather maps revealing snow is even expected later in the month. According to new weather maps by WX Charts, snow will begin falling from 6pm on Friday, October 17, continuing through to 6am on Sunday, October 19.
The snow is set to kick off in Perth and Kinross on Friday evening, with snowfall intensifying over the weekend. By Saturday, snowfall rates could reach up to 10cm per hour in the Scottish Highlands, with a total snow depth of around 25cm expected by 6pm.
As Sunday morning dawns, snow is set to spread beyond the Highlands and Western Scotland to central Wales, where up to 20cm of snow is forecast, according to WX Charts.
The Met Office’s long-range forecast for Saturday, October 18, to Saturday, November 1, reads: “The latter half of October will see a transition to more widely unsettled conditions once more, though the timing of this remains unclear.
“Whether this takes the form of successive depressions moving in from the Atlantic or a rather slower evolving weather pattern remains to be seen, but there is a greater chance of more places seeing more frequent spells of rain or showers and possibly strong winds later in the month.
“Temperatures probably close to average overall.”
In the UK, snow can appear from late November through March, although it’s more common to take place between the coldest months between December and February.
According to the Met Office, the Cairngorms in the Grampian Mountains are among the snowiest places in the UK, with snow falling on average 76 days a year at the Cairngorm chairlift station and 66 days at nearby Aviemore, based on 1981–2010 data.
It was in Braemar, in eastern Scotland, during “The Big Snow” of 1982 that the UK recorded one of its coldest-ever temperatures.
That winter is remembered as one of the most severe in UK history, and Braemar itself holds the joint record for the lowest temperature ever recorded in the country: -27.2C.