Met Office names 29 areas facing snow on Wednesday - full list
Vast swathes of the country are covered by Met Office snow warnings.
UK weather map forecasts heavy snow and rainfall
The UK is set to be battered with snow as arctic conditions arrive. The Met Office has issued multiple weather warnings for snow on Wednesday, January 4, which cover 29 areas of the country.
One yellow snow weather warning kicks off at 6pm this evening, January 3 and will remain in place until 9am tomorrow morning. Covering northern England as well as mid and north Wales, the weather warning predicts that outbreaks of snow, sleet and rain will occur from this evening onwards. Snow accumulations, in the order of 1-3 cm, will mainly occur above around 200 metres, though the odd cm is possible at lower elevations.
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A rare weather phenomenon is also forecast as there is a chance transient freezing rain will fall over higher ground. Although the odds of this occurring in any one location is small, it would increase the ice risk.
Sleet and snow will clear from the south through Wednesday morning. Spanning 15 hours a separate yellow weather warning for snow comes into place at midnight in eastern and northern Scotland.
Snow depths could reach 10-20cm in areas above 200 metres and up to 5cm accumulations could reach 5cm are expected above 100 metres.
At low levels precipitation will be a mix of rain, sleet and snow which could lead to some small snow accumulations in places.
The Met Office is also warning that strong winds at times will lead to blizzard conditions and drifting of lying snow, especially in the north of the warning area.
Elsewhere, a yellow snow weather warning spanning 30 hours is also in place over Shetland. Kicking off at 6pm this evening until 11.59pm tomorrow night the warning says that wintry showers will fall over Shetland today and will turn to more persistent snowfall from this evening, continuing throughout Wednesday with the potential to bring some disruption.
By the end of Wednesday accumulations of 1-3cm are expected quite widely, with perhaps up to 5-10 cm building up over higher ground.
Strong winds at times will lead to blizzard conditions and drifting of lying snow.
The 29 areas facing snow on Wednesday
East Midlands
- Derbyshire
North East England
- Durham
North West England
- Cheshire East
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
Wales
- Conwy
- Denbighshire
- Flintshire
- Gwynedd
- Powys
- Wrexham
West Midlands
- Staffordshire
Yorkshire & Humber
- North Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
- West Yorkshire
Central, Tayside & Fife
- Angus
- Clackmannanshire
- Dundee
- Fife
- Perth and Kinross
- Stirling
Grampian
- Aberdeen
- Aberdeenshire
- Moray
Highlands & Eilean Siar
- Highland
Orkney & Shetland
- Orkney Islands
Strathclyde
- Argyll and Bute
Orkney & Shetland
- Shetland Islands
