A cold weather alert has been issued as parts of the UK are set to be hit by snow this week. Yellow weather warnings issued by the Met Office have been brought forward as Arctic air moves over parts of Scotland and then down to northern England.
North-west England is among the areas hit by a level three alert by the UK Health Security Agency, meaning a 90 per cent chance of severely cold weather, icy conditions or heavy snow that could impact the most vulnerable.
It is predicted that temperatures could plummet to the coldest yet so far this year, particularly on higher ground in northern Scotland, which could experience lows of below minus 10C. The wintry conditions could lead to up to 10cm of snow on higher ground in Scotland and 5cm at lower levels.
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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a cold weather alert and has placed north-east England, north-west England and Yorkshire under a level three alert, with the rest of England at level two. The NHS says the conditions could increase the health risk to vulnerable patients. All areas are under alert between 1am on Monday and midnight on Thursday.
Parts of Greater Manchester woke up to a light dusting of snow on Sunday morning (March 5) with frost forecasted for much of the region over the coming days.
From midnight on Sunday, the yellow warnings of snow and ice spread to north-western England and north-eastern Scotland, and creep further down the east coast as far as Hull on Tuesday.
Dr Agostinho Sousa, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection at UKHSA, said: "During periods like this, it is important to check in on family, friends and relatives who may be more vulnerable to the cold weather, as it can have a serious impact on health.
"If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over the age of 65, it is important to try and heat your home to at least 18°C if you can.’
Chris Almond, Deputy Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "Although we’ve moved into meteorological spring there will be a distinctly wintry feel to our weather next week. Very cold air will spread across the UK bringing snow showers even to sea level in the north on Monday and these snow showers could spread further south on Tuesday.
"With freezing overnight temperatures and the risk of ice, it is likely weather warnings will be issued for Monday and Tuesday once the detail of potential impacts becomes clearer, so keep an eye on the Met Office forecast."
Areas affected by the warnings could experience power outages, delays to road, rail and air travel, icy surfaces and some rural communities may be cut off by the freezing conditions.
Meteorologist Honor Criswick said: “We are expecting a few more snow shower outbreaks into this evening and seeing a bit more snowfall early on, which is why the warning was brought forward. We are expecting pretty cold conditions and snow showers over the next few days across Scotland and northern parts of England.
“Temperature wise, we could possibly see lows of minus 10C in the sheltered glens and higher ground across northern Scotland on Monday night, so it’s going to be feeling quite cold and the breeze is picking up a little bit so will be feeling rather chilly.
“Potentially we could see some of the coldest temperatures so far this year. The lowest we have seen was in January at minus 10.4C, so we could see something turn lower than that. We are expecting between 5cm and 10cm of snow across higher ground, so if we see more accumulations on lower ground of between 2cm and 5cm we could see some travel disruption on Monday into Tuesday.”
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