Met Office issues yellow warning for snow covering almost all of England | Weather | News
The Met Office has issued a 44-hour yellow warning for large swathes of the country as Britain prepares to be hit by heavy snow this weekend.
Temperatures are expected to plunge to -10C (14F). The Met Office said up to 1ft of snow could fall between 12pm on Saturday and 9am on Monday, with much of England and almost all of Wales warned.
The Met Office warns of possible power cuts with services such as mobile phone coverage possibly impacted. There is also a “slight” chance some rural communities could be cut off.
There is also a chance of road travel delays as some vehicles and passengers become stranded. Delays or cancellations to rail and air travel are possible, too.
The forecaster said outbreaks of rain spreading northeastwards later on Saturday and overnight into Sunday will likely be preceded by a spell of snow on its northern flank.
It added: “Whilst there is a fair bit of uncertainty as to how far north this may spread, and how long any snow will last, significant accumulations of snow are possible, especially (but not exclusively) on hills.
“Currently, parts of the Midlands, Wales and northern England are most at risk of disruption, where 5cm or more could accumulate fairly widely, with perhaps as much as 20-30 cm over the high ground of Wales and/or the Pennines.
“This, accompanied by strengthening winds, may lead to drifting of lying snow.”
In addition, as milder air attempts to move northwards into southern and central areas, Snow could turn to freezing rain, adding to the risk of ice, as milder air tries to push into southern and central parts of the UK.
The Met Office said if milder air spreads more northwards, any snow in southern parts of the warning area may be relatively short-lived before turning to rain.
It added: “Given the uncertainties, it is quite likely this warning area and start/end times will be refined over the coming days as confidence increases in areas most likely to be impacted.”
The regions and local authorities affected by the warning are:
Falkirk
Derby
Derbyshire
Leicester
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Northamptonshire
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
Rutland
Bedford
Cambridgeshire
Central Bedfordshire
Essex
Hertfordshire
Luton
Norfolk
Peterborough
Southend-on-Sea
Suffolk
Thurrock
Bracknell Forest
Buckinghamshire
East Sussex
Greater London
Hampshire
Kent
Medway
Milton Keynes
Oxfordshire
Reading
Slough
Surrey
West Berkshire
West Sussex
Windsor and Maidenhead
Wokingham
Darlington
Durham
Gateshead
Middlesbrough
Newcastle upon Tyne
Northumberland
Redcar and Cleveland
Stockton-on-Tees
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackpool
Cheshire East
Cheshire West and Chester
Cumbria
Greater Manchester
Halton
Lancashire
Merseyside
Warrington
Dumfries and Galloway
East Lothian
Edinburgh
Midlothian Council
Scottish Borders
West Lothian
Bath and North East Somerset
Bristol
Devon
Dorset
Gloucestershire
North Somerset
Somerset
South Gloucestershire
Swindon
Wiltshire
Strathclyde
North Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
Blaenau Gwent
Bridgend
Caerphilly
Cardiff
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Conwy
Denbighshire
Flintshire
Gwynedd
Isle of Anglesey
Merthyr Tydfil
Monmouthshire
Neath Port Talbot
Newport
Pembrokeshire
Powys
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Swansea
Torfaen
Vale of Glamorgan
Wrexham
West Midlands
Herefordshire
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Stoke-on-Trent
Telford and Wrekin
Warwickshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire & Humber
East Riding of Yorkshire
North Lincolnshire
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
York