Heavy snow warnings have been issued for parts of northern Scotland as the UK braces itself for a chilly end to Easter.
The Met Office said that no part of the country would be “immune” from snowfall on Easter Monday as the temperatures continue to drop.
The colder weather coincides with the easing of coronavirus restrictions across the country and police have urged people to continue to respect the rules.
Parts of Scotland including Fife, Strathclyde and Highlands are due to see gale-force winds and snow showers that could cause travel disruption.
There could be as much as 15cm of snow in higher areas and temperatures may drop as low as minus 5C (23F) on Easter Monday morning.
The Met Office’s yellow warnings are in place from 6pm on Sunday until midnight on Monday.
It comes as the stay-at-home order was lifted across Scotland on Friday, allowing people to travel locally for non-essential purposes.
Craig Snell, forecaster for the Met Office, said: “After a taste of summer for a lot of the UK we will see things turn much colder as we go through the second half of the Easter weekend.
“A lot of the UK will be prone to seeing some wintry showers as we go through the course of Monday but northern Scotland is where we’ll see the heaviest and most frequent snow.
“That’s where there’s most concern that we might see some disruption.”
Mr Snell said although it was not unusual to see snow at this time of year, it would be a “shock to the system” for many, following the almost record-breaking March temperatures felt earlier in the week.
Parts of the UK saw temperatures reach nearly 24C (75.2F) on Wednesday, with Weybourne, north Norfolk, leading the way at a peak of 23.9C (75F) – short of the nation’s hottest-ever March temperature of 25.6C (78F), which was recorded in 1968 at Mepal in Cambridgeshire.
The Met Office said temperatures would decline steadily across the UK and by Monday most parts would struggle to reach double digits due to the country entering an “Arctic trough”.
On Saturday, temperatures in the South East and London are expected to be about 12C (53.6F) and, further north, Manchester and Leeds could see highs of 13C (55.4F) and 10C (50F) respectively.
By Easter Monday, Manchester's temperature could drop to 7C (44.6F) with London's 8C (46.4F), ) and Leeds a chilly 5C (41F).
“Nowhere is going to be immune from potentially seeing some snow showers on Monday, even down towards the south west of England,” said Mr Snell.
“But as it comes further south, it will fall from the sky but it probably won’t settle because the ground will be warm enough that as soon as it lands it will just melt.
“But anyone in the UK may see some flakes falling if they’re looking out of the window.”
