The Met Office has dismissed claims of a “snow bomb” hitting the UK next week after some reports based on weather charts claimed parts of the country would be covered in ice.
The reports were based on WX Charts, which is owned by private company MetDesk.
The Met Office told the Independent that any disruption next week “looks unlikely”.
A spokesperson said: “The Met Office is not forecasting 10cm of snow next week. There may be a few cm over the tops of the Scottish Mountains and perhaps the northern Pennines but any disruption at this stage looks unlikely.”
The forecast for this Friday shows snow developing in parts of Scotland, while the rest of the country will enjoy pleasant weather.
In the long-range forecast for next week, the Met Office says the country is going to see a largely dry week with some occasional showers.
It was recently reported that England and Wales had their respective warmest Februarys on record, according to provisional Met Office statistics. The average temperature in England for February 2024 was 7.5°C, topping the previous record of 7.0°C set in 1990. Wales saw an average mean temperature of 6.9°C for the month, marginally ahead of 1998’s record of 6.8°C.
But what is a snow bomb? Here is everything we know about what the weather phenomenon means.
What is a snow bomb?
The word snow bomb is derived from "weather bomb" which can cause winds strong enough to bring down trees and cause structural damage.
According to The Met Office, a weather bomb is “an unofficial term for a low-pressure system whose central pressure falls 24 millibars and in 24 hours in a process known as explosive cyclogenesis."
Is it different from a weather bomb?
The terms snow bomb and weather bomb are interchangeable.
Will it hit the UK?
Though it has been reported in some places that a snow bomb could hit the UK, the Met Office has debunked these reports. "Sunny spells for many western areas on Wednesday, but cloudier skies for eastern counties with showery rain at times," it said.
