The Met Office has responded to fears of a blizzard and snow which is expected to hit the UK next week.
There is a 90 per cent snow risk and freezing cold temperatures are expected to cover the UK from next week, maps from WXCharts show. This comes as forecasters warn of a 'polar vortex' on its way - there could also be layers of snow inches-high from Thursday, February 9.
The Met Office has painted a less dramatic picture for most of Leeds and the rest of the region, saying the city can expect mostly fine weather with sunny spells with a risk of coastal gales on Tuesday.
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Met Office Senior Operational Meteorologist, Rachel Ayers, told the Express : "At the moment it's quite low confidence going into next week. There's a temporary battleground set up between a blocking high over the UK and the return of lambic mobility from the west.
"It looks like at first we'll see a lot of dry, settled weather with light winds, some colder weather with fog and patchy, localised frost." Ms Ayers added that wetter conditions would "stay across the far northwest".
She continued: "It then looks like, at the moment, the most likely outcome is that we'll see wetter, windier, milder weather quickly re-establish from the west, with a small chance that this could be preceded by some snow. But then there is a lower probability, around a 15 per cent chance at the moment, of a more unsettled and cold easterly flow setting up across the UK bringing some snow showers increasingly across eastern and southern areas.
"At the moment that is not the preferred solution. We are generally looking at the settled start and becoming a little more unsettled later on, in the middle part of February."
The Met Office has predicted the long range forecast for Yorkshire next week (February 6 - February 15). A Met Office spokesman said: "It will be mostly fine with sunny spells on Monday, although cloudier in the northwest with some rain.
"There will be light or moderate winds for most, becoming stronger in the northwest, with a risk of coastal gales. From Tuesday, high pressure tends to dominate, with any frontal systems most active in the northwest, but quickly weakening as they stagger southeast across the UK.
"For many, there should be plenty of mostly dry if rather cold weather, likely lasting a few days, with overnight frost and perhaps some fog patches in the south and a small chance of very cold conditions and snow showers moving in from the east. However, most likely is a resumption of wetter, windier and milder weather from the west after a few days of cold conditions."
The forecast from February 16, to March 2, states: "This period is likely to be characterised by changeable weather, with unsettled and windy conditions, especially in the northwest. The best of the settled conditions in the east and southeast. Temperatures likely average or slightly milder than average, with a chance of short-lived colder spells."
You can see today's (Thursday, February 2) full weather forecast here.
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