Britain is preparing for a week-long snow onslaught in just over a week, according to new weather maps.
The yellow weather warning for wind has now expired after Storm Darragh swept through the country at the weekend.
Now, data from wxcharts.com forecasts snowfall across most of Scotland, as well as parts of northern England and Northern Ireland on Monday, December 16, from noon. Meanwhile, major cities including London and Manchester are predicted to experience rain, with parts of Wales and areas along the south coast also affected.
The snowy conditions could continue until the weekend, with Saturday, December 21’s predictions showing snowfall across large areas of the country, including major cities like Manchester and Birmingham, and most of Wales. Rain is indicated over a large area further south, including in London and southern areas of Wales.
Most of the rest of the UK is forecast to have snow or accumulations of snow by 6am that day, with more severe snowfall in northern Scotland. The falling snow and accumulations are forecast to continue in the following two days and move to include more southern areas, though not quite as far down as the capital, reports Chronicle Live.
However, British Weather Services founder and forecaster Jim Dale told Express.co.uk that it remains far from clear which parts of the country will see snow over the festive period, if any, reports the Express.
“If anywhere’s going to see any snow pre-Christmas, in those few days before, it’s probably going to be Scotland and more likely to be the higher ground of Scotland than it is anywhere else,” he remarked. However, he stressed there’s still a “long ways to go”.
“We just have to be a little bit patient and see how the models handle this,” Jim added.
“But at the moment the favourite areas are tending to be Scandinavia through central, eastern Europe, even as far south as Greece sometimes, that sort of area.”
Considering Christmas is still more than two weeks out, he highlighted that forecasts will “ebb and flow” and remain challenging to pinpoint with precision.
“What we’re tending to see at the moment is a dominance of high pressure coming back behind the low pressure”, following Storm Darragh’s sweep over the UK. Jim advised that high pressure systems are never too distant when it comes to weather patterns.
“By the weekend I think we’ll get more wind and high pressure will regress a little bit, then you get the cold coming down, and then it will go back again. And that’s basically what we’re seeing.”
In other news, the Met Office issued a yellow warning for wind and rain on Sunday across a large part of England and Wales in the aftermath of Darragh’s havoc, with winds reaching 100mph and power cuts affecting thousands in Wales and western England.
The wind advisory impacted all 55 cities in England before expiring at 6 pm.