Tonight will be a cold one across much of England and Wales if skies turn clear and stay clear through much of the overnight. Expect lows even in towns and cities to drop towards -6C in places while outlying areas may well fall below -10C. The coldest spots could reach -15C, perhaps a little lower.

As for much of Scotland, it’s a cloudier night so it never really gets cold.

While the temperatures tonight will be one thing, it’s the frontal system pushing in from the Atlantic that is worth watching closely.

Western Scotland will get in on the initital rains turning to snow first, so anywhere from the mountains along the west coast in through Glasgow and on east, expect a covering to perhaps 2-3 inches of snow during Friday. Hills could see a half foot of snow by the end of the day. Strong southerly winds will make for poor driving conditions with blowing and drifting over hills.

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For England and Wales, the front should bring in the cloud, initial rain and then snow mid to late morning and during the afternoon, the snows should pep up, turning heavy and bringing nasty conditions to most areas, worst up over the Pennines. I expect a widespread covering with many possibly picking up 2 or more inches. 6-8 inches of snow is possible over higher ground.

Here’s the latest GFS chart for tomorrow’s snow!

For Scotland, the heaviest snows appear to be over the western Highlands and for England, from the Pennines on east, where the coldest air remains.

By Saturday, once the front has reached the east coast, much warmer air will be dragged in and so heavy rain and mild winds will start a quick thaw which could present some significant flooding issues, especially to areas which have deep snowpacks. The warmth will bring fog and ice problems as well as flooding.

More later!

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