As many as 27 counties in England are bracing for a snow shift this week, with a blizzard expected to sweep the country around January 31. The weather maps and charts from WX Charts, based on Met Desk modelling, show a wintry shift with most parts of England at risk from a mix of snow, sleet and rain as we approach the end of the first month of the year.
The list of English counties that could see snow on January 31 includes Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire in the south, as well as Cheshire in the North West and Cumbria in the North East. Derbyshire in the East Midlands is also at risk, while Durham in the North East faces flurries.
Sussex and Essex won’t escape either, with the south of the country – including Greater London, Hertfordshire and Kent – massively at risk from the weather front. Humberside and Lancashire face flurries further north while Leicestershire and Lincolnshire are at risk in the central belt or Midlands areas.
Norfolk faces a dusting, as well as neighbouring Suffolk, and the flurries could hit Northants, Oxfordshire and Surrey too.
It means areas NOT at risk include Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Rutland, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Wiltshire and Herefordshire. The BBC forecast spanning to Sunday, February 2, explains: “Another rather intense low pressure system will bring bands of heavy rain with strong and potentially disruptive winds, especially from Sunday to Tuesday.
“This time western and southern regions could see some of the strongest winds. There will be some wintriness mixed in, especially over Scotland, and there is even a risk of isolated squally thunderstorms and hail.”, reports Birmingham Live.
“There could be a brief respite later on Tuesday, but another low pressure system looks like it will arrive from the Atlantic on Wednesday. However, this should then slide south-eastwards into France by Thursday, so England and Wales should bear the brunt of the rain, although winds should not be as strong.”
“Scotland and Northern Ireland will have scattered showers, some wintry at higher elevations, then turn drier as we go into Thursday as a high pressure ridge starts to build from the south-west. This should then expand to bring mostly dry conditions across the UK through to the end of the week, but frost and fog patches could become an issue. Just a few showers are possible, more likely in southern England than elsewhere. Temperatures will be variable but in general should be near average for the time of year.”