Next week, a whopping 39 cities across the UK are bracing for a 350-mile wide snowstorm.
The latest weather maps from WXCharts predict heavy snowfall on February 27 and 28, accompanied by strong winds, heavy rain, and plummeting temperatures.
The snowy onslaught is set to affect 28 English cities including Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Colchester, Coventry, Derby, Doncaster, Hull, Lancaster, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, London, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Truro, Westminster, Winchester, Wolverhampton, and Worcester. Scotland’s Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, and Stirling, as well as Wales’ Bangor, Cardiff, Newport, St Asaph, St Davids, Swansea, and Wrexham, are also in the firing line.
The Met Office’s long-range forecast for February 21 to March 3 indicates widespread rain, particularly heavy and prolonged in the west and northwest. Strong winds, potentially escalating to gales or severe gales along the coasts, were also expected.
However, there will be some respite with drier, more settled periods featuring lighter winds and sunny spells, albeit possibly punctuated by showers. This comes as the Met Office issues a yellow warning for snow and ice, effective for nine hours on Tuesday.
Several regions in Scotland, including parts of Tayside and Fife, Southwest Scotland, Lothian Borders, and Strathclyde, are set to face wintry weather conditions from 3am until 12pm. The Met Office has issued a statement saying: “Snow flurries will probably turn heavier for a time during Tuesday morning, leading to a covering of snow in some places. Most likely in the 0-1cm range in lowland areas, whilst 1-5cm is possible in places above 200m,” reports the Express.
It also cautioned about the potential hazards due to freezing rain, particularly in the southern part of the region: “In addition, freezing rain, especially in the southern part of the region, is likely to cause icy surfaces in a few places and could make for difficult driving conditions, even on treated roads.”
However, there’s light at the end of the tunnel as the forecast suggests an improvement by the afternoon: “Freezing rain and snow is expected to ease by Tuesday afternoon, with conditions improving.”
Get email updates with the day’s biggest stories