A round up of where will see more snow, which parts are sheltered from this cold Arctic northerly and a look at places which have already seen snow
London and SE England have seen a few flurries on Thursday 30th November, and tomorrow, as December begins, meteorological winter starts. The UK has seen a cold Arctic mass reaching down from the north. This meant that the flow of showers reaching into northern Scotland and then filtering down the west and particularly the east coast turned more wintry. The bulk of inland Britain stayed dry and Northern Ireland got a scattering of showers, mainly as rain and sleet.
The Met Office issued a Yellow "Be Aware" warning for snow at around 0930 Thursday after all the morning news and weather bulletins had finished. This risk continues through the night and for some on Friday. The weather will begin to change from the NW. There have been a few flurries in London but SE England is not covered as these warnings relate to Impacts. So, will the severe weather impact your routine. In NE Scotland, some schools were considering closing early as buses struggled with many rural settings. Roads were slippy with compacted snow and ice and at times thick flakes whirling about.
Aboyne in Aberdeenshire (140m up) had 5cms of lying snow by midday on Thursday and Bridlington (at sea level) in Humberside had 3cms. Showers continue to run in from the North Sea in the north wind, just more NW around the Thames estuary. Hard to pinpoint but there will be streams of showers passing over the same areas leading to good coverings; still for a few zones over NE Scotland from the Moray coast and clipping the east coast again and this risk eases through the night. There is the likelihood of snow showers for the Scottish Borders, Northumberland, a risk for Newcastle, Co.Durham, Humberside, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, maybe Suffolk. The NW wind will blow most showers away from London this evening, but there could be flakes in the air.
Overnight things change and a band of showers could run down through the SE, so there is a chance of a covering for hills in the Home Counties although less likely in town. Some showers could also push into the Midlands and more of Yorkshire overnight. Further west, a few sleety showers with hill snow continue for Snowdonia and hills of western Northern Ireland but not much.
The image above shows areas most prone, with forecast accumulations, this is for lying snow, other parts may have flurries. Overnight and during Friday morning, less cold air approaches from the northwest, a warm front. The showers over Scotland and NE England will be subdued so the snowfall diminishes here. Further showers will be around on Friday morning for eastern England yet more rain appears than snow and they all begin to fade by lunchtime.
We will lose the cold Arctic air and that looks to be it for a while as we move through the first full week of December.
