BBC Weather forecaster Chris Fawkes warned temperatures will fall to -3C overnight after a day of freezing conditions across most parts of the country. Snow will continue to fall in Scotlands, the Midlands and some areas of the Cotswolds. Mr Fawkes added: “Over the last few days we’ve seen air move down from polar regions with this area of low pressure.
“The cold air the low pressure sent right across the UK, that’s what has been bringing snowy weather.
“Those temperatures are tending to lift by an odd degree or two. That means the snow is transitioning to rain in many areas.
“But we still have quite a bit of snow across the high ground of Scotland, east Staffordshire, across the west Midlands, and there is a potential perhaps across parts of the Mendip Hill and Cotswolds.
“For most of us, it is just a cloudy start to the day with some patches of rain around.
“There’s a tendency for the weather to turn a bit drier and brighter across central and easter areas as we head into the afternoon.”
He added: “Temperatures about 6C or 7C but perhaps just 4C in places, especially across the Midlands.
READ MORE: BBC Weather Europe: Continent braces for ‘150cm of snow’ this weekend
“Overnight, after quite a chilly day, those temperatures will fall below freezing in places and the risk of ice stretches.”
Scotland and other parts of the UK have seen the first significant snowfall of the winter as a cold weather alert was issued for the days ahead.
Some Scottish residents got an unusual wake-up call overnight and alerted police to explosions but what they were actually hearing was a natural phenomenon known as “thundersnow”.
This is the rare combination of thunderstorms formed in wintry conditions that bring heavy downpours of snow along with the usual thunder and lightning.
People woke up to bright snowy scenes having heard sounds which would have been quieter than usual thunder and lightning strikes.
Police Scotland Control Rooms said they had received a number of calls from people who were concerned after they heard explosions and strange noises.
“Heavy rain could bring some localised flooding.
“Some torrential rain in northern areas of Italy and southern Austria where we’re looking at around 200mm of rain in places.
“That really is likely to lead to some flooding problems.
“On high ground we are expected to see heavy falls of snow with 50cm to 150cm in the mountains across Austria and into northern areas of Italy.
“Further north we’ve got some rain pushing into Scandinavia.
“The forecast for Sunday, we’ve still got more torrential rain in northern parts of Italy with that very heavy mountain snow as well.”
— to www.express.co.uk
