Snow maps show 23 counties in England hit by blizzards with -7C freeze | Weather | News
The new year will start with widespread snowfall as the latest weather maps predict heavy showers will hit 23 counties across England alone. New models from weather forecaster WX Charts show plummeting temperatures and snow showers set to hit the UK on Friday, January 2, as an Arctic blast impacts the country’s weather in the coming weeks.
Weather data suggests bands of snow will move southwards across England in the early hours of Friday. Showers will begin falling in the North West of England at around 3am, moving down over the Irish Sea and hitting parts of Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside and Yorkshire before moving south. These showers are likely to be showers, but as the night progresses heavy snow will begin to fall across central England.
By 6am, much of the Midlands will begin to be covered in snow, with Birmingham, Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent affected.
The band will continue to move with a south-easterly wind as the day progresses and by 9am the Midlands and North West will still see showers, but the white stuff will also fall in a new band across London, Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk.
By evening, most of the snowfall will begin to clear, but temperatures will remain freezing and most of the country will see the mercury drop into the negatives by 6pm.
Although WXCharts maps are based on individual model runs and may change as new data becomes available, similar cold signals have appeared repeatedly in recent forecasts.
The Met Office said widespread frost and icy conditions were expected in early January, with occasional snowfall possible, especially during currents from the north or northeast.
During this time the agency also has a yellow weather warning for snow and ice in northern Scotland, with temperatures expected to drop to -7C; It may also be extended to England if the forecasts hold.
The Met Office forecasts say: “Cold northerly winds prevail across the UK in the first week of January. These will bring showers (mostly snowfall) to many coastlines (and areas immediately inland) exposed to onshore winds.”
