The UK is just days away from a flip in weather conditions – with snow set to hit many areas over a four day period. New weather maps show a deluge coming across from the east by the middle of next week.
The impending freeze is due to arrive from Wednesday, February 7 – with the north of the country, including Scotland which is due to be hit first.
But a larger wall of snow is due to move in next Thursday, blanketing towns and villages south of Newcastle from around midday. A light dusting of around 1cm may even reach as far down as Manchester.
Fast-forward to 9am on Friday, February 9 and this snow covering seems to stretch even further south with parts of Hertfordshire, Berkshire and even Hampshire looking set for a covering.
Jim Dale, a senior meteorologist for British Weather Services, said: “The cold blast remains a favourite. A short spell of mild weather is incoming now; but expect major changes in the middle to end of next week.
“Snow and icy conditions will cascade down from Scotland, particularly for the north but few places immune, there is no quick escape.
“The south is unlikely to be immune. On current trends there’s likely to be some sporadic falls but this far out it’s not possible to be specific.”
The Met Office outlook for splits into two categories: mild, wet and windy “punctuated” by drier, cooler interludes.
“The northwest is likely to see the heaviest and most frequent or most persistent rain, while the east, and especially southeast, will tend to be drier overall,” it says.
“It will be largely cloudy with the best of any sunshine in the east. There is also a chance colder conditions could then start to feature slightly more widely during the second week of February, with increased chance of wintry weather across northern parts of the UK.
“Cloud and rain being pushed in from the Atlantic may well be forced to track further south across the south of the country where it may remain milder. However, confidence is fairly low in this period.”
Experts at Netweather, however, predict it may take a bit longer for an Arctic blast to establish over Britain, pushing snow risks back to later in the month.
In its outlook from February 12 to 18 it says: “There is an increasing chance of colder northerlies pushing into all parts of the country at times, especially in the second half of the week, bringing sunshine and potential for some snow, particularly in the form of showers in northern Scotland and near north-facing coasts.
“Frost will become widespread at times, particularly in the north. However, there will be some milder, wetter interludes, particularly in the south and particularly early in the week.
“Overall this week is likely to be colder than average in most parts of the UK, but probably not exceptionally so, as it may take a while for the cold northerlies to establish widely, with negative anomalies of 1 to 2C in most regions.”
