The UK is set to see milder weather move in over the weekend but weather maps show parts of the country will see another Arctic blast later in the month with more snow
Brits are set to be battered by another Arctic blast later this month with 10 cities likely to see snow flurries.
Weather maps show that the snowy conditions across the country may be ending during the second half of the weekend after an icy spell where temperatures reached -17.3C in the Scottish Highlands on Friday.
Altnaharra, which is in the most northern region of the Highlands, saw the temperature shortly before 8pm, the Met Office said. It is the coldest January overnight temperature since 2010, when temperatures dropped below -15C several times at locations across the UK, including -22.3C on January 8 in Altnaharra.
And with the cold temperatures has come plenty of snow but looking ahead maps from WXCharts show that more flurries in January will be confined to parts of northern England and Scotland.
Just 10 cities across the UK are set for more snow in January. Yorkshire will see snowfall on January 24, with cities such as Leeds, Wakefield, Ripon, Bradford, and York set to see around 2cm per hour from midday. However, the weather looks set to be brief, with weather maps from the following day showing little to no settled snow across the country.
Further north, cities such as Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and Stirling are also likely to experience a brief flurry of snow, which will be largely confined to central and western areas. The Met Office’s long-range forecast for the period is more tempered, as it predicts mild temperatures with wind and rain in some parts.
It said: “Northern parts are more likely to be unsettled but milder. This pattern will likely spread across the whole UK by the end of the period, leading to milder conditions with periods of rain and strong winds more widely.”
Before that though and Friday night might have been the end of the really cold weather. Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said: “Friday night into Saturday morning may well be the nadir of this current cold spell.” Saturday is forecast to be cold too, and Met Office colleague Zoe Hutin said: “We’ve still got tonight to come, and tomorrow night could also be chilly as well.
“Temperatures for tomorrow night, it will be mainly eastern parts that see temperatures dropping widely below freezing, so East Anglia, the north-east of England, northern and eastern Scotland as well. So another chilly night to come on Saturday, but then as we go into Sunday and into Monday, then we can start to expect temperatures to recover somewhat.
“I won’t rule out the risk of seeing something around or just below freezing again on Sunday night into Monday, but it won’t be quite so dramatic as the temperatures that we’re going to experience as we go overnight tonight.” Looking ahead to next week, she said: “We’re saying it’s getting milder but by no stretch does that mean (temperatures) are going to be above average – it just will feel comparatively much more pleasant than it is at the moment.”
