UK braced for 40 hours of snow as Met Office warns of rain and hurricane force winds

A snow warning lasting almost two days could lead to the isolation of communities, while heavy rains and high winds are also due to the shelling of Britain.

The Met Office’s snow advisory covers much of the north from Wednesday morning and lasts more than 40 hours until 9 p.m. Thursday.

There is a “slight possibility” that some rural communities “could become isolated” amid the snowstorm, while power outages are also a possibility, the warning adds.

Weather charts also show wind gusts of up to 64 km / h in some parts of the country, while there is also a rain warning over much of Northern Ireland from 3am tomorrow to 9am Thursday.

It comes as meteorologists continue to monitor development conditions that could see another Beast from the East strike in February.

Cold air moved through the night, causing temperatures in the north to plummet to double negative figures, while in the south, a separate weather front kept things much milder with highs of 9 ° C.

Ice warnings issued yesterday afternoon extend until 11am today across northern England and all of Scotland, with travel likely to be interrupted.

“A great contrast in temperatures and a great contrast in weather through Tuesday – rain and humidity across much of England and Wales, certainly to begin with,” said Met Office forecaster Alex Deakin.

“Across the north of Britain there is a lot of sun, but there is a risk of ice in the morning – there are still some winter rains in the far north.”

He went on to say that a new band of rain will start moving from tonight, becoming “a big player in our weather in the middle of this week.”

“Pushing east overnight on Tuesday, bringing some heavy rain to Northern Ireland on Wednesday and when it hits the polar air we could start to see some heavy snow.”

Deakin said snow will initially fall on the hills through Wednesday in northern England and southern Scotland, “but that strip of wet weather will persist through Thursday, when we could start to see the accumulation of total snowfall.”

The weather front pushing east means there will be a west-east temperature split by Thursday, allowing for milder temperatures and showers in places like Belfast, Birmingham and the Southwest.

But it will be floating just above zero in Norwich, Hull and Newcastle, where the snow will hit the hardest.

UK 5-day weather forecast

Today:

Clouds, rain and milder air in the southern half of the UK are confined to the south west of England and west Wales. Cold and sunny elsewhere with some winter showers near the shores in the far north and east.

Tonight:

Clouds and rain in the south-west return to the east and become intense in Northern Ireland, western Scotland and north-west England with a risk of sleet, snow and ice. Cold and clear elsewhere.

Wednesday:

Cold with rain, sleet and snow in the north of the UK, lasting most of the day in the western areas. Further south, the rain band moves east followed by milder but rather cloudy weather.

Outlook from Thursday to Saturday:

Remaining unstable with areas of rain and snow pushing eastward, the snow will be confined primarily to the hills. Rather cold in the eastern areas, but generally milder in the west.