Temperatures across the UK are set to plummet within days as an Arctic blast from Russia brings perishing temperatures, snow and ice.
Cold air from western Europe will sweep across Britain from Sunday as temperatures dip to -5C overnight.
The cold snap follows a period of sudden stratospheric warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, which “greatly increases the risk of wintry weather”, the Met Office said.
A spokesperson told The Independent the phenomenon had caused a stock of high pressure to accumulate over Scandinavia, allowing for freezing conditions to drift across from Russia.
“Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week we are expecting very cold weather across the whole of the UK and temperatures will be well below average,” the spokesperson said.
“Monday we’ll be expecting snow showers across eastern parts of the country and on Tuesday there will be substantial snow across other parts of the country we’re not too sure exactly where, broadly speaking, this is likely to affect the eastern parts of the country, including the south east.”
Forecasters believe temperatures will hover around the 2C mark across the UK, including London, Cardiff and Glasgow, but a bitter wind chill factor will make it feel like -3C or -4C.
“Temperatures are probably the lowest since 2013, but there have been times in the not-so-distant past where we’ve had cold weather into the end of February. But what is interesting is that it’s so widespread, we’re expecting the whole of the UK to be affected,” the spokesperson said.
The Met Office believe the cold snap could be “prolonged”, and could spill over into March.
