New weather maps show where snow will fall across the country as the Met Office issues weather warnings for vast swathes of the country.
The agency has issued four yellow weather warnings for all four UK nations with Brits warned to expect delays and icy conditions on roads and pavements. Brits have been warned that bus and train journeys are expected to be longer than normal and to be mindful of icy patches when walking to avoid injury.
A yellow snow and ice weather warning is in place from 12pm today until 11:59pm tonight for northern Scotland from the central Highlands up toward the Shetland Islands. The Met Office said: “Sleet and snow showers will continue for the rest of Wednesday and Thursday, before dying out by the end of Thursday evening.
Manchester Airport shuts runways due to ‘significant snow’ as travellers sent warning
Yellow weather warnings are in place across the UK
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Met Office)
“Northwest Scotland and the Northern and Western Isles will see the most frequent showers on Wednesday, before extending to the Northeast on Thursday. Further accumulations of 3-7 cm are expected to low levels, with 10-15 cm possible above 150 metres. Where any modest daytime thaw has occurred, icy stretches are likely on untreated surfaces.”
It comes as Ventusky reports the northern areas of the Scottish Highlands could see between 8cm to 24cm of snow today. Between 15cm and 10cm of snow is expected in the Pennines region of northern England as well.
Snow and Ice warnings are in place for Northern Ireland, Cornwall and western and northern Wales and are set to end at 11am today. The warnings come after the UK was battered by heavy snowfall across many parts of the country following the relatively mild festive period.
Met Office forecasters said of Cornwall: “Roads are wet and cold across Cornwall following earlier rain and snow. With many surfaces falling below freezing, this will lead to some icy stretches on untreated surfaces, while a few cm of fresh snow could affect some areas, mainly places above about 100 metres.”
Brits have been warned about icy conditions on the road
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ZENPIX LTD)
Conditions were severe enough in the North West that Manchester Airport temporarily shut its runway due to “significant snow.” In a statement, the airport said: “Our runways are temporarily closed due to significant levels of snow, as our teams work hard to clear them as quickly as possible.”
Ventusky said snow cover in the affected areas is likely to remain into tomorrow with similar snow depth being recorded in northern Scotland and the Pennines. Central and northern Wales will also see lower levels of snow cover with a maximum of 5cm.
Forecasters anticipated the mercury would plummet to as low as -16C on Thursday evening in parts of the country. Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said: “First thing, if you are stepping out, you can see where these snow showers are from the Highlands of Scotland, running down the western side, Northern Ireland, [the] Isle of Man seeing some wintry showers and moving in across Liverpool, Cheshire and the far south of Lancashire, the western side of Wales as well.
“Now, towards the south an overhand of cloud, but we’ve lost that rain and snow and those winds remain strong along this east coast as we head through this morning into the afternoon. Any freezing fog patches only lifting slowly through the day as well.”