Snow could settle up to “several centimetres” deep across the UK as a storm batters the country in late November and early December, weather forecasters have said.
Recent weather modelling has suggested temperatures will rapidly drop as a cold system rolls in from Europe, bringing snow and ice in the coming two weeks.
Charts show the snow primarily settling over Scotland, but flurries could break out further south as wet weather returns over the last few days of November.
Mapping for November 30, in particular, shows possible showers as far south as Cardiff, while London and nearby regions see potentially heavy rain.
Meteorologists have suggested snowy accumulations will pile up in northern England and Scotland while snowflakes “mix in” with rain in the southeast and beyond.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Jason Nicholls, the lead international forecaster at AccuWeather, said some Global Forecast System (GFS) models show chinches for snow “as far south as Wales and the Midlands”.
Other models, he added, show a “storm” drifting further south, with less general precipitation from the coming rainy system.
While the cold system will stray south, it won’t tip out quite as much snow as it will in northern England and Scotland.
As the southeast sees a sprinkle amongst the rain, the north can expect “several centimetres”, primarily in the Highlands.
Mr Nicholls said: “The consensus of the modelling suggests that the best chance for snow in the UK over the next couple of weeks will be over the Scottish Highlands.
“Several centimetres of snow are likely in the highlands over the next two weeks.
“I cannot rule out some wet snowflakes mixing with rain in Wales and England around Thursday, November 30.”
But, the forecaster added, he is “not foreseeing any significant accumulation” in either home nation.
The difference in conditions extends to temperatures, with the highest in the first few days of December being roughly 4C during the day in southern England, dropping to 0C at night.
In Scotland, the heavy snow comes with bitter lows, with minimum temperatures reaching -10C in the west early in the morning on Saturday, December 2, and between -1C and -7C elsewhere in the home nation.
