Parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and England have been warned to expect travel disruption as snow and ice is forecast to hit towards the end of the week.
The Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for Thursday and Friday covering much of Scotland, areas to the north of Belfast, and the Lake District and Pennines areas of England.
“It will certainly feel more wintry this week, with colder weather bringing a risk of frost, ice and wintry showers,” said the Met office’s chief meteorologist, Dan Suri.
Forecasters said the bulk of Thursday night’s snow was expected to fall over the Pennines. They said it was expected to become more widespread on Thursday night, before fading and turning to rain for some later in the night and on Friday morning.
Areas above 300 or 400 metres were forecast to see a further 2cm-5cm on Thursday, an it could also “briefly settle across areas as low as 150 metres above sea level before the snow level rises as milder air arrives from the east”, the Met Office said.
Traffic Scotland’s operations support manager, Douglas Cairns, said: “The first severe weather warning of the winter for snow and ice is always a timely reminder for people to check they are winter-ready and have made appropriate preparations.
“A record number of gritters are available to keep the trunk road network moving this winter and we are grateful to our frontline teams, operators and operating companies for the comprehensive planning and preparations that have been made this week.”
The Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist, Dan Harris, said: “It will remain cold and unsettled on Friday as low pressure brings strong winds and spells of rain to many parts of the UK.
“It will stay cold into the weekend with rain, showers and hill snow continuing across many areas, along with overnight frosts. We could also see some stubborn areas of freezing fog develop more widely, which at this time of year can persist all day. However, it’s not all doom and gloom as there’s likely to be an increased chance of dry, bright and perhaps even sunny weather on offer as the weekend progresses.”
