Snow sweeps back in - just after the hottest day of the year

The emerging spring will take a back seat today as forecasters predicted a cold snap, with snow and wintry weather across the UK.

Snow has already fallen over Scotland and parts of northern England over the weekend, and forecasters said they could not rule out further flurries today anywhere in the UK. They predicted worsening conditions during the day.

"There is going to be a band of wintry weather moving south across most of the UK," said Tony Conlan, from the weather forecaster MeteoGroup. "The rest of the day will see sunshine and quite frequent showers and it will definitely feel very cold, with highs of 3C-6C across most of the country. There will also be quite a strong, cold, northerly wind over northern and western parts of the UK."

April is known for its changeable weather and it seems this year is no exception after the country basked in the hottest day of 2008 on Thursday, with temperatures of almost 19C recorded in Aberdeenshire.

But plummeting temperatures could even mean snow flurries in the South-east early this morning.

The Met Office has warned that this summer is set to be hotter and wetter than usual, and said it could not rule out repeats of last summer's torrential rain.

Dr Brian Golding, head of forecasting at the Met Office, said: "We think it's likely to be a case of a few fine days and then there's a band of rain, perhaps some thunderstorms, and then it warms up again."