Britain will be hit by heavy snow this weekend as temperatures plunge to -10C (14F) after the Met Office activated a 44-hour warning for most of the country.
Forecasters expect up to 1ft of snow could fall between 12pm on Saturday and 9am on Monday, with much of England and almost all of Wales within the warning zone.
Part of southern Scotland and the whole of Greater London is also covered by the yellow alert, which meteorologists issued shortly after 11am this morning.
The Met Office said there was a chance of power cuts and mobile phone coverage being lost in areas, while some rural communities could become cut off.
Travel delays on roads are also expected with ‘some stranded vehicles and passengers’ possible, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel.
It comes as temperatures are set to begin plunging from early tomorrow, with lows of -10C expected in snow-covered parts of Scotland by Friday morning as well as -5C (23F) in London, -6C (21F) in Glasgow and -7C (19F) in Birmingham and Manchester.
The UK Health Security Agency activated a 72-hour yellow ‘cold health alert’ for the whole of England at 9am today, running until at least 9am on Saturday.
Met Office forecaster Mr Morgan said there is expected to be widespread frost overnight, followed by a ‘particularly cold’ couple of days, with the potential for widespread snow and disruption into the weekend.
The Met Office has issued a snow warning between 12pm on Saturday and 9am on Monday
Temperatures are set to be between 3C and 5C below average by day over the next few days, with a maximum of 5C (41F) to 6C (43F) in the south, and the coldest spots expected to see -10C during the nights.
The Met Office snow warning said: ‘Outbreaks of rain spreading northeastwards later on Saturday and overnight into Sunday will likely be preceded by a spell of snow on its northern flank.
‘Whilst there is a fair bit of uncertainty as to how far north this may spread, and how long any snow will last, significant accumulations of snow are possible, especially – but not exclusively – on hills.’
Parts of the Midlands, Wales and northern England are most at risk of disruption, where 5cm (2in) or more could accumulate fairly widely, with as much as 20cm (8in) to 30cm (1ft) over high ground of Wales and the Pennines.
The warning continued: ‘This, accompanied by strengthening winds, may lead to drifting of lying snow.
‘In addition, as milder air attempts to move northwards into southern and central areas, snow may turn to a spell of freezing rain for a time, adding to the risk of ice.
‘If milder air is able to spread more bodily northwards, any snow in southern parts of the warning area may be relatively short-lived before turning to rain.’
The Met Office added that ‘given the uncertainties, it is quite likely this warning area and start/end times will be refined over the coming days as confidence increases in areas most likely to be impacted’.
More to follow
