More Brits to brace for Arctic blast as Met Office extends snow and ice warnings across UK as temperatures hit -10C
15 January 2024, 19:57
More Brits have been warned to brace for snow and ice after a new Met Office forecast extended its weather warnings to additional regions in the UK.
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The yellow snow and ice warnings were originally issued for Northumberland, the Lake District, the Pennines, and wider areas of the North West and Wales starting on Monday until Thursday.
But weather alerts have now been extended to include parts of north east England and potentially some parts of southern England on Wednesday.
It comes as an Arctic blast saw three inches of snow arrive in parts of Britain on Monday.
Temperatures hit as low as -10C on Monday in the Highlands, followed by -5C in Glasgow, Staffordshire and Cumbria.
Comparatively, Exeter was the warmest region in the country at 6C.
The updated Met Office forecast reads: “Further snow showers, perhaps merging into a longer spell of snow, are likely to cause further disruption on Tuesday.”
The forecaster has warned of potential travel delays on roads amid the snow showers, as well as potential power cuts, delays or cancellations to rail and air travel.
It comes after some 200 schools across Aberdeenshire, Moray and Shetland were closed on Monday due to the three inches of snowfall overnight.
Flooding risks remain in place for parts of England, particularly the south, as the Environment Agency issued 27 warnings and 118 alerts on Monday.
Meanwhile trains between Oxford and London were disrupted on Monday after rail lines between Haddenham and Thame Parkway and Bicester North were shut due to a landslip.
Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said: “Where and how much snow we will get will vary throughout the week and weather warnings could change quickly, you will need to keep an eye on the forecast for your region for the latest information.
“There will be widespread frost this week and we could see some fairly deep laying snow in parts of northern UK and strong winds could result in drifting or blizzard conditions at times.
“The snow and ice will be disruptive and could potentially impact travel plans, make driving dangerous and pavements slippery.”
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Nick Silkstone said: “The track of this system still has some small but all-important uncertainties tied to its northern extent, and it has the potential to bring some snow to southern England.
“However, our preferred solution suggests minimal snowfall - a couple of centimetres at most - across parts of the extreme south of England in association with this system, but we are keeping an eye on how things develop and will update the forecast as needed.”
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said that temperatures will be about 5C to 6C lower than usual for this time of year.
Mr Eslick said: "Especially towards the North where we do have these warnings, we're likely to see some travel disruption.
"So we would recommend people stick to the main roads and avoid country lanes where possible.
"These are the places that aren't going to see any gritting or any road clearances for the next couple of days.
"So we recommend people take their time, make sure they have time to do their cars in the mornings, and go steady."
He said: "So essentially we're looking at a strong northerly wind which is bringing in Arctic airmass which is cold, which is bringing in these wintry showers."
He said that "icy conditions" were expected, with maximum temperatures of 0C in parts of Scotland, and only 2C to 4C in southern parts of the UK.
