An Arctic cold front is forecast to blast parts of the UK within hours as the “coldest spell of the winter” bears down on areas across the North. Britons are being urged to take care as the Met Office issued yellow weather alerts for snow, ice and wind amid warnings of travel chaos with a danger of injuries from slips and falls on icy ground.
Weather expert Phil Morrish told Express.co.uk: “We’re about to have the coldest spell of the winter. An Arctic cold front will come down on Sunday morning and behind it is cold Arctic air. This will push south across the country and will last for five days till Friday (January 19).
“Day temperatures over most of the UK will be below freezing to plus 2C or 3C on the south coast. Night time temperatures will be between -3C to -10C, some glens in Scotland could be seeing -15C.”
Mr Morrish added there will be a lot of snow in the northern half of Scotland, piling up to between 10-30cm on higher ground in the country. Lower areas north of the border will see 2-5cm.
The snow is expected to spread southwards to the north of England, then to areas around the coast of the north west of England and the Cheshire Gap between the Welsh mountains and hills of Lancashire. Snow showers will also travel down through Staffordshire and into the West Midlands, according to the weather expert.
He added the other side of the UK will see snow showers coming through the Yorkshire coast down to East Anglia.
The Met Office has warned of snow and ice on Sunday and Monday (January 14-15) across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray the Highlands, Eilean Siar, the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.
It warns some roads and railways are likely to be affected with longer journey times by road, bus and train. There may be icy patches on any untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths with a risk of injuries from slips and falls.
A yellow snow and ice warning applies from 3am on Monday (January 15) until midnight in Northern Ireland, affecting all counties in the province.
The Met Office says showers will increasingly fall as snow, bringing some disruption to parts of Northern Ireland.
Mr Morrish said there is a small risk of more persistent snow coming up from the south on Wednesday (January 17), with an area of low pressure possibly heading our way from France.
He said: “The risk of snow affects southern, coastal counties, though the risk is 30 percent at the moment. There could also be polar low areas of low pressure with more organised showers that could affect us from time to time.
“The Midlands, central and southern England will mainly stay dry, but we need to keep looking at the forecast.”
The weather expert said next weekend milder weather will push back in, which might be preceded by snow, but milder Atlantic air could be back again as the jet stream re-establishes itself.
Wet and windy weather could be coming from the Atlantic as of next Saturday, according to Mr Morrish.
