Snow and ice will blast the UK during a bitter post-Christmas cold spell, weather maps have suggested. The country has recently seen a spate of unseasonal conditions, with an unusually cold November giving way to a mild festive period.
The unsettled period appears set to continue beyond December 25, with the mercury rapidly descending from Sunday, December 26. Maps from WXCharts show a wall of snow stretching several hundred miles across the country from then.
The snow seems likely to settle over every home nation while the rest of the country drowns under heavy rain.
Charts show that Met Office predictions of a mild Christmas will continue until December 25, with temperatures sticking in the high single figures for most of England and around 3C to 5C in Scotland, where it is usually closest.
The situation will quickly change on December 26, when temperatures drop by between 5C and 6C in England and Wales and nearly 10C in Scotland. Minimum temperature maps from WXCharts show the mercury dropping to -7C in Scotland and between -1C and 0C in England and Wales.
The drop will allow isolated snowfall in Scotland to spread south, with a central band developing over several hundred miles by 6pm on Tuesday.
Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland can expect up to two centimetres per hour as the snow covers more than 300 miles, from the Cairngorms to the Peak District. But the rest of the country will see at times heavy rain, with maximums of 5mm per hour on the west coast, near where the most snow is expected.
The forecast means that Britons can expect a chaotic few days before and after Christmas this year. Parts of the country will fall within yellow weather warnings issued by the Met Office on Thursday, December 21.
The agency has warned the country will be battered by severe winds, blasting communities between the tip of Scotland and Cambridge over nine hours.
Wind gusts could reach between 45 and 55mph in several dozen areas, with possible maximums of 65 and 70mph over high ground in the east and 70 and 80mph over Scotland’s northernmost islands.
