Brits set to be blanketed in snow next week as Beast from the East blizzard sweeps across the UK, forecasters say
2 March 2023, 20:39 | Updated: 3 March 2023, 09:54
Brits could be hit with snow next week, as the cold weather continues to bite across much of the UK.
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A map published by forecasters WXCharts suggests that snow is strongly likely to hit much of the UK as soon as next Tuesday, while northern parts of the country could be hit with snow on Wednesday and Thursday.
Temperatures have been dropping in recent weeks after the Met Office recorded a sudden stratospheric warning, the same phenomenon that caused the Beast from the East snowfall in 2018.
The mercury dropped as low as -8.5C in Tulloch in Scotland on Sunday. Benson in South Oxfordshire had temperatures of -6C.
The charts show there is a 65-80% chance of snow hitting the south-east and Midlands at the start of next week, with up to a 95% chance of snowfall in the Scottish highlands.
Cold weather alert issued as freezing temperatures due next week
Snow in parts of Wales, northern and southern England is around 45-65% on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, but will still be higher in parts of Scotland.
The Met Office is more cautious on whether snow will hit the UK next week, saying it is too early to make exact predictions.
Meteorologist Alex Deakin said: "This cold air coming in through the weekend is likely to last for most of next week. By the time we get to the following weekend, things turned a little bit milder.
"But as you can imagine, by this stage, there is a lot of what we call spread. There's still a lot of variation. but that's a pretty strong signal that next week is likely to stay cold for much of the week.
The big question mark is, as I say, whether we see any significant snowfall, whether we get any injection of moisture to combine with that snowfall. So here's what we do know about next week.
"It is likely to be cold, much colder than it is now. When you've got that cold air in place and we've got some other coming together that position of those low pressures, that does increase the chance of some sleet and snow.
"But the detail of where and when, we just don't know at this stage."
