New weather maps have unveiled what appears to be a snowdrift heading for southern Britain next week, spreading conditions seen in Scotland UK-wide.
Multiple agencies have charted the path of a new snowy system developing over parts of Scotland this afternoon, where people can expect between 1cm and 3cm to fall over the Highlands.
The largely coastal snowfall will gradually drift south, hammering areas south of the border in time for the weekend.
Intensifying winds will bring a combination of snowfall and rain crashing into every home nation, the maps show.
Many Britons could become stuck in a fierce mix of wind, rain, hail and snow as temperatures drop back into the minus figures before the country officially welcomes spring.
Maps from WXCharts show a purple blotch representing snowy showers forming over Scotland and northern England late this week that will grow over the next few days.
By Friday, smaller purple blotches appear over England and Wales, notably over Blackpool and the Lake District.
By Sunday, the snow can be seen forming a band that stretches from Manchester to Birmingham and across Wales, between Oswestry and Aberystwyth, with smaller pockets of showers on the southwest coast.
The band is approximately 186 miles wide, covering hundreds of thousands of Britons in England and Wales.
Ventusky shows the coastal southwest and Scottish west coast also seeing hail as they are pelted by snow, with gusts pushing the precipitation eastwards.
During that time, wind speeds will pick up to around 40mph on the coast, and temperatures will drop into the low single figures, around 4C in England and below zero in Scotland.
The colder conditions will come and go over the next week into March when the country will feel more spring-like.
The new season is now visible on the horizon, with meteorologists allotting March 1 as the first month of the new season.
According to the Met Office, it will also feel like spring by then, with rain set to douse the nation in bands.
The forecaster’s long-range forecast for February 26 to March 6 states: “A generally unsettled pattern is most likely to resume and continue through to early March.
“Spells of rain are expected across all areas at times, wettest overall in the west and northwest, where it will also sometimes be windy.
“Temperatures are most likely to be around or a little above average, though some short-lived colder interludes that would allow sleet or snow to fall to lower levels are possible at times, these more likely in the north.”
