The Met Office has updated its forecast for Bristol and changed a prediction for heavy rain this afternoon and evening to a warning of heavy snow instead. The experts now say that this afternoon's band of heavy rain that is set to sweep in from the south west at around 3pm this afternoon will fall as snow in Bristol, and not rain, as forecasts earlier this morning predicted.
It means a renewed yellow weather warning for snow continues to be emphasised, as what was expected to be rain and sleet will instead blanket the city for around three hours before only turning to rain later into the evening.
Updates: Snow in Bristol causes disruption
The snowfall experienced throughout Wednesday morning is expected to clear at lunchtime, and conditions will remain dry but cold until a new band of rain and snow moves up from the south west and arrives in Bristol at around 3pm. But whether this falls as rain, sleet or snow illustrates the challenging nature of predicting what kind of precipitation we get in changeable, near freezing conditions where there is such diverse temperatures in close proximity.
Devon, Cornwall and parts of southern Somerset are basking in a relatively mild 8C or 9C today, so the heavy rain coming in from the Atlantic is falling as rain. But when that band of cloud and showers arrives further north in Bristol and Gloucestershire, it meets much colder air and begins to turn to snow. Working out where that line of change is has been a huge challenge for the Met Office this morning.
Up until around 10am, the Met Office forecast was predicting it would fall largely as rain throughout the afternoon, but from 11am that has now changed, so the hour-by-hour forecast for Bristol for the rest of Wednesday and into Thursday is as follows.
Wednesday
12 noon- Heavy snow continues, temperature 1C
1pm - Cloudy but dry, 2C
2pm - Cloudy but dry, with a 20 per cent chance of snow, 2C
3pm - Heavy snow and sleet starts to fall - 60 per cent chance. temperature falls again to 1C
4pm - 90 per cent chance of heavy snow
5pm - Heavy snow continues, temperature down to 1C
6pm - Heavy snow begins to turn sleety. 60 per cent chance of snow or sleet
7pm - Snow turns to rain and lessens slightly
8pm - 90 per cent chance of heavy rain, temperatures climb to 2degC
9pm - 60 per cent chance of rain
10pm - Rain continues to ease. 50 per cent chance of rain.
11pm - 50 per cent chance of light sleety rain
Thursday
12 midnight - Rain begins to clear
1am- 3am - Largely dry with just a 20 per cent chance of rain
4am-5am - Rain and sleet begin again.
6am - 9am - Continuous heavy rain which, at the moment, the Met Office is forecasting will fall as rain, and not snow.
9am - Rain eases off slightly
10am-11am - Heavy rain returns for the rest of the morning, but temperatures begin to climb steadily
12noon-1pm - Sunshine and showers with a 40 per cent chance of rain, temperatures up to 8C
2pm - 5pm - Continuous heavy rain which is almost certain to be rain, as temperatures forecast to rise to 10C.
