Although temperatures have been relatively mild in recent weeks the weather agency forecasts that the latest cold snap will soon hit. Earlier this month, vast swathes of the UK were placed under Met Office weather warnings as heavy snow and icy conditions caused widespread disruption. Millions were affected, with hundreds of schools forced to close for several days.
The severe cold triggered yellow and amber alerts, as well as the rare issuance of a red warning, signalling that the extreme conditions posed a potential danger to life.
In some of the worst-hit areas, temperatures plunged well below freezing, communities were at risk of becoming cut off, and snowfall reached depths of up to 30cm.
And now in its 10 long range weather forecast the Met Office has warned that between Thursday January 22 and Saturday January 31 the “UK will see a battle between Atlantic weather systems attempting to arrive from the west while high pressure and colder conditions attempt to exert some influence from the east”.
Whilst milder air is “expected to dominate for the majority of the country” and remain mild temperaures will “likely quickly becoming colder in the north east, after which there is an increased chance that conditions will turn more generally colder”.
This means there is an increase that snow will fall across large swathes of the country.
A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “This aspect of the forecast is still somewhat uncertain but the potential transition to colder weather also increases the chance of snow across parts of the country.”
The forecaster has issued no weather warnings for this week, with temperatures expected to remain between 4 and 11 degrees across the UK. Rain is forecast, particularly in western areas, while conditions are likely to be drier in the east.