Wintry showers and icy conditions are set to hit the UK this weekend - but London looks like missing the worst of the weather.
After being battered by winds of up to 38 miles per hour on Thursday, things are looking up in the capital, with the weekend likely to be mainly dry and much less windy.
The rest of the country will be less lucky however, with Arctic air sweeping across the UK.
Scotland in particular looks set for some heavy snowfall, while the north of England is on alert for freezing temperatures.
A north-westerly wind is dragging colder air from the Arctic across the country, pushing temperatures to around four degrees below average, along with 70mph gale force winds.
Grahame Madge, spokesperson for the Met Office, said: “The cold could trigger some freezing conditions as skies begin to clear after those wintry showers, so we could see icy patches.
“Parts of the higher areas of the Lake District, the Pennines, possibly even as far as the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, might begin to see some wintry conditions, and freezing conditions overnight, but we’re not anticipating that this is going to last long.”
After sunshine and temperatures approaching 20C last week, a cold plunge over North America has supercharged the jet stream ahead of its Atlantic passage, cursing the low temperatures.
The jet stream developed a deep area of low pressure near Iceland, which swept across the UK on Thursday.
These weather conditions are not unusual for this time of year, and temperatures should begin to return to normal soon.
Madge said: “March is notorious for being a month that straddles winter and spring, so the fact that we get the occasional colder spell or warmer spell, it’s just the two main seasons of summer and winter vying for dominance.
“The emphasis really is that we’re past the peak of the cold.”
