UK Weather: Parts of UK see heavy snow and hail
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Thousands of Britons witnessed snowfall and hail showers on Thursday morning as a cold front continued to sweep across Britain from the north. Icy winds and sleet battered areas in Scotland, the northwest and northeast of England in a stark contrast to the sunshine and warm temperatures enjoyed by much of the UK last week.
The Met Office issued a whopping 11 yellow weather warnings on Thursday morning, with freezing temperatures and hail showers expected to cause widespread ice and risk transport chaos.
Weather warnings were issued for regions across Scotland, the northeast of England, the northwest and the southeast, with cities including London, Newcastle and Leeds all at risk of snowfall.
The polar freeze closing in on the UK from Tuesday set temperatures plummeting, dashing hopes that spring had arrived last week when many areas basked in sunshine and highs of 20C.
Top temperatures have nosedived across the UK in recent days, with the mercury struggling to reach more than half of the highs seen last week.
Highs of 10C are forecast for this weekend as the Arctic air drives down temperatures to lower than average for the second week of spring.
Forecasters have predicted that some areas of Scotland and Wales could see lows of -6C in the coming days.
Jim Dale, senior meteorologist at British Weather Services told Express.co.uk: “The polar air is in situ and it will stay in situ.
“The showers are fairly well scattered, some of them are quite heavy. They contain ice, sleet, and snow grains, which shows how cold it is in the atmosphere.”
“It’s all the way from Scandinavia so it’s true polar air.
“There will be a hard frost in Scotland and parts of the west, including Wales. The valleys and the glens could see between -3C and -6C.”
Temperatures dropped below freezing across much of the UK on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Areas in West Yorkshire, Manchester and Durham woke up to deep snow on Thursday morning after several hours of snowfall overnight, while light snow showers were also seen in the south-east including the East Midlands and East Anglia.
Met Office weather warnings covered areas across Scotland, northeast England and Yorkshire until Thursday morning, warning that “snow and hail showers could lead to icy surfaces, with possible travel disruption,” particularly on higher ground.
Some local councils such as Newcastle City issued emergency protocols to deal with the sudden drop in temperatures, such as expanded services for people sleeping rough.
More snow and frost is forecast for Thursday evening as the polar are moves southwards over the UK.
Yellow weather warnings issued by the Met Office on Thursday warned of potential disruption from ice and snow on Friday morning across parts of Kent, Sussex, Suffolk, Essex and East Anglia.
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Mr Dale said the wintry conditions were expected to persist through the weekend in some areas, with overnight temperatures staying below zero in many areas.
He said: “There’ll be scattered wintry showers tomorrow, Saturday and into Sunday. So it’ll take maybe three or four days to lose the polar air. By Monday we’re starting to lose it.”
Although temperatures are expected to gradually rise next week there is still a risk that Britain could see more wintry weather as the seasons change, with snowfall possible leading up to Easter.
Mr Dale added: “We’re not necessarily out of the woods yet.”
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