Parts of the UK could be hit by up to 5cm of snow this weekend, a Met Office expert has sais.
The Cheviot Hills in Scotland and North Yorkshire Moors could see snowfall of between 2cm and 5cm as a freezing weather front moves across the country on Saturday.
The Met Office has forecasted that a period of high pressure is expected to bring cold and frost to the UK this weekend, with Scotland and Northern England forecast to bear the brunt of the chilly spell.
A Yellow National Severe Weather Warning for snow and ice will be in place from 6am to 2pm on Saturday, February 15, for northern regions and the UK Heath Security Agency has issued a cold weather alert for the North East and Yorkshire and The Humber.
Some areas could also see the rare phenomenon of freezing rain, according to the forecaster – when supercooled droplets freeze upon contact with cold surfaces, forming layers of ice.
While snowfall is expected to be contained to northern parts of the UK, it’s unlikely to be a sunny couple of days for the rest of the country – with heavy rain expected in parts of south Wales and southwest England.
“Through Saturday, the rain will move further east and as it does, it’ll bump into the colder air, meaning some snow is likely, mainly for parts of Northern England covered by the snow and ice warning,” Met Office Chief Meteorologist Matthew Lehnert said.
“2 to 5cm is possible over the Cheviots and North Yorks Moors, and it’s possible we could see some localised accumulations to lower levels,” he added.
“Some freezing rain could affect higher parts of the Pennines for a time too, leading to icy conditions. Some snow is possible outside the warning area, although amounts are likely to be small.”
The UK weather service forecasts that the snowy weather will be limited to Saturday, with colder temperatures hanging around into Sunday and Monday.
Some drizzle and the odd bit of hill snow is expected in parts of Scotland and Northern England, but the sun is expected to come out early next week, before an unsettled but milder front moves in from the Atlantic.