Met Office and BBC weather forecasters both say snow is likely to come to the UK in January, with their latest predictions pinpointing exactly where it will fall
Met Office forecasters expect snow to fall in several places in just a few days’ time, according to the national weather agency’s latest predictions.
Forecasts are starting to point to some serious snow at the start of January, despite there not having been much over the Christmas period. Weather maps have suggested as much as 19 inches could soon fall in some parts of the country.
The Met Office’s latest predictions now also point to some serious snow. Its forecast for January 2 to 11 states that “cold northerly winds” are expected to become dominant across all of the UK.
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Met Office’s snow forecast for January
This “will” bring snow to coastlines that are exposed to onshore winds, as well as “areas just inland of these”, the Met Office says. It adds that southern and central areas inland will “remain mostly dry but cold”.
The Met Office says: “There are likely to be some more coherent bands of rain, sleet and snow working south, and these may bring a risk of more prolonged wintry precipitation affecting some inland areas. Towards the second half of this period, slightly milder conditions will attempt to move in from the west.”
Moreover, snow could fall in some places before the end of December. The Met Office’s forecast for Tuesday to Thursday says conditions will be “colder later in the week with brisk northwesterly winds bringing increasingly wintry showers to the north”.
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BBC Weather’s snow forecast for January
For now, BBC Weather’s latest predictions suggest any snow is likely to be restricted to higher ground. However, these forecasts could change as we approach January.
BBC Weather’s forecast for January 5 to 11 states: “Although no significant rise in temperatures is expected, values could approach or briefly exceed the January average as high pressure potentially slips farther south and some westerly winds develop.
“A drier spell is possible initially, but frontal systems may then begin to move in from the Atlantic, bringing another increase in precipitation.
“For most areas, this will fall as rain, although some snow is possible at higher elevations—most likely across the Highlands. Northern and western areas are expected to be wetter than the south and east. There is, however, some uncertainty in this expected pattern, with a chance that high pressure could build to the west.”
