Arctic air to bring plunging temperatures, snow and ice to UK
Cold Arctic air is set to bring snow, ice and travel disruption to parts of the UK next week.
The Met Office has issued yellow snow and ice warnings as temperatures are expected to plunge over the coming days.
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said that temperatures will be about 5C to 6C lower than usual for this time of year.
A snow and ice warning is in place from 3am on Monday until 9am on Tuesday across Northern Ireland.
In Scotland a similar warning is in place in northern areas from midnight on Sunday until midnight on Monday. The warning area will then spread across the whole of Scotland and into northern England on Tuesday.
A snow warning will be in place from midnight on Wednesday until midnight on Thursday across northern Ireland, northern and western Scotland, parts of northern England and Wales.
Mr Eslick said: “Especially towards the north where we do have these warnings we’re likely to see some some travel disruption.
“So we would recommend people stick to the main roads and avoid country lanes where possible.
⚠️ Yellow weather warning issued ⚠️
Snow and ice across parts of Scotland, northwest England, parts of Wales and the West Midlands
Wednesday 0000 – Thursday 2359
Latest info 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs
Stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/IdXUB2ABho
— Met Office (@metoffice) January 14, 2024
“These are the places that aren’t going to see any gritting or any road clearances for the next couple of days.
“So we recommend people take their time, make sure they have time to do their cars in the mornings, and go steady.”
He said: “So essentially we’re looking at a strong northerly wind which is bringing in Arctic airmass which is cold, which is bringing in these wintry showers across windward parts.”
He said that “icy conditions” were expected, with maximum temperatures of 0C in parts of Scotland, and only 2C to 4C in southern parts of the UK.