Will it snow across the UK this weekend?
It’s that time of year again when the weather gets colder, knitted sweaters appear, and people dream of a “white Christmas”.
But those hoping for snowflakes to fall from the sky may have to wait a little longer, as snowfall is unlikely to become widespread, according to the Met Office.
Instead we can expect heavy rain to move eastwards across parts of England and Wales on Saturday, accompanied by strong winds; In Scotland, “some sleet and snow is likely.” It will also be brighter in Northern Ireland, with the outlook looking “drier, brighter but also colder” on Sunday.
Met Office said Independent: “A low pressure system developing southwards on Saturday will bring some rain, strong winds and even some snow on the hills. Sunday looks drier and brighter for most before more unstable weather arrives for the start of Advent.”
“We will likely see some sleet and snow in higher elevations, particularly around the South Pennines.”
The forecaster added: “There’s still some uncertainty about the exact track and how deep this low pressure will get. “It potentially stays a little bit shallower, stays further south and so the weather towards the south is wetter and we’re less likely to see anything wintry.
“There’s also the potential to go a little further north. And if so, there’s a higher risk of seeing sleet or snow, mostly on higher ground, but it could be on modest higher ground in northern parts of England, perhaps even southern Scotland.”
There was snow in some parts of England last week, with up to 25cm falling, and a yellow weather warning was issued in some areas on Thursday.
Will there be a ‘white Christmas’ in the UK this year?
Met Office said Independent: “It is too early to speculate whether we will see a white Christmas this year.”
Forecasters usually start to have a clear idea of the chances of seeing any flurries on the big day in the week before Christmas.
The Met Office said the threshold for a “white Christmas” requires only a single snowflake to be observed falling on Christmas Day anywhere in the UK.
Last year the Met Office predicted a “grey Christmas” with scattered rain and clouds along with mild temperatures.
The last technically white Christmas in the UK was in 2023; 11 percent of weather stations recorded snowfall, but none reported snow on the ground.
The last time it snowed on a large scale at Christmas was in 2010. It was the whitest Christmas on record in the UK, with 83 per cent of stations recording snow on the ground.
More than half of all Christmas Days since 1960 have reached the threshold; In about half of those years, at least 5 percent of weather stations reported snow on the big day.
But the chances of the snow actually collapsing are slim: this has happened only four times, in 1981, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
