The latest snow maps show a cold snap bringing wintry showers to some northern regions – while the south fends off strong winds. The most recent weather models from Wxcharts show how the mercury could suddenly change within days – with one forecaster not rejecting the idea. Overnight between Saturday, February 18 and Sunday, February 19 a band of rain and snow looks set to push across the country off the Atlantic.
Swirling anti-clockwise from around midnight, it looks to centre on the north of England, with parts of its wrath hitting Scotland and areas close to Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Maps show this snowfall, which may fall as rain in milder areas, could be falling until at least noon on the Sunday. So far, the models show up to 5cm hitting Dumfries in north western Scotland and around 1cm blanketing the north west of England.
Jim Dale, senior meteorologist for British Weather Services told Express.co.uk that the risk of such a weather event comes as the high pressure, responsible for milder temperatures, starts to go.
He said: “We eventually lose the high pressure and it becomes more changeable with rain, some higher level snow for the Highlands but we remain on a watching brief for now.”
Looking at temperatures overnight, Wxcharts envisages lows of 0C across parts of Scotland, with parts of the north west falling to -1C. In the north of England the mercury will straddle freezing. This cold snap is set to remain for much of the day.
Wind strength maps also suggest parts of Scotland including Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the east will be battered by near-severe gales, with these winds strengthening to “storm” conditions in the north west.
In Northern Ireland, Dublin and Belfast could also be hit by storm-like conditions, with much of Wales and the south western coast of England being on the receiving end of severe gales. In the south east, however, a dissimilar picture is painted.
While gales are predicted to hit exposed coastal areas on February 19, the risk of snow is minimal with the likelihood of any wintry showers causing havoc in areas north of the East and West Midlands.
READ MORE: De-icing cars can be made easier by using cooking spray and sanitiser
The Met Office’s long range forecast alludes to some unsettled periods, but does not necessarily confirm a snowy spell ahead. Looking from February 11 to 20, it says: “The coming weekend is expected to be mostly dry and largely cloudy, albeit with some rain at times in the far north and northwest.
“For the rest of the period, settled conditions overall are expected for most, bringing dry weather with sunny spells. There is a risk of overnight fog in many parts of the country, particularly in the south.
“Changeable weather conditions are more likely in the far north, with showers and longer spells of rain, as well as periods of stronger winds in the northwest.
“Temperatures overall will be mild in the north, particularly in the northwest, but near average elsewhere, with a low chance of colder conditions and frost in the south.”
Interactive weather models go up until February 23 and so far indicate the brief intense snowfall may be shortlived. In the days that follow from February 19 a return of more rain looks set to push east across Britain.
Nick Finnis, a senior forecaster at Netweather, gave a brief rundown of how the end of February may be one to watch.
He added: “This winter could see a sting in its tail in the form of much colder and wintry weather before spring arrives. If a sudden stratospheric warming does occur and brings high latitude blocking, it could also delay the onset to spring-like weather in March too such as we saw in 2018 and 2013 following SSWs back then.”
