North-South divide big freeze - but some Brits will get 12C sunshine

09 February 2024 , 14:09

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More snow is coming to parts of the UK this weekend - but it'll start to warm up elsewhere (Image: PA)

Brits in some parts of the country will enjoy slightly warmer weather this weekend, a Met Office forecaster has told the Mirror - though the big freeze is set to continue elsewhere.

A blast of Arctic winds has sent temperatures tumbling this week, unleashing the usual wave of school closures and travel disruption across large swathes of the UK.

Many towns across Wales, the north of England, and Scotland experienced sudden and large snowfall on Thursday afternoon, catching some drivers off-guard and marking a return to more typical wintry scenes after weeks of miserable wind and rain.

Returning milder air means the cold snap now looks set to clear up for most as we head through Friday and into the weekend, though forecasters have said there will be some notable exceptions.

Weather map for Friday evening (Met office)

Scotland is set to continue under the current cold phase of weather for the next 24 hours, the latest indications show. Giving the weather outlook for overnight and into the weekend, Marco Petagna, Met Office senior meteorologist, told the Mirror: "It'll be coldest in the north, temperatures struggling to get into single figures and feeling sub-zero, whereas further south it'll be much milder. Overnight the snow will be in the north of Scotland, but increasingly elsewhere in England and Wales it'll be a drier picture. A lot of bright weather tomorrow, a few showers across Wales and the southwest corner of the UK."

Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts

"The trend going into Sunday is temperatures generally back to average or just above average, the risk of snow by then will have diminished, but still unsettled with showers locally and more rain." He added that the north of England and Wales would now be spared any further snow after experiencing heavy wintry showers on Thursday, with accumulations still on the ground expected to mostly melt away by Saturday other than in the most hilly, remote areas. Daytime temperatures are forecast at highs of around 12C tomorrow in the southeast and 10C in Cardiff, while the mercury is likely to approach 5C in Edinburgh.

As much as three inches of snow in total could still fall in the north of Scotland, where the Met Office has put in place yellow weather warnings until 3pm tomorrow. A warning from the weather agency reads: "Outbreaks of sleet and snow will continue overnight into Friday. Accumulations will vary from place to place and will mainly be across high ground (above about 200 metres) - here, some areas are expected to see 1-3 cm (one inch) of snow through this period but perhaps as much as 8-10 cm (four inches) in a few locations, mainly above 300 metres"

Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas