When will it next snow in the UK?

The UK could see the season’s first spell of wintry weather next week, the national forecaster said

Yellow weather warnings have been put in place for several parts of the UK on Tuesday after the Met Office gave its verdict on whether Brits can expect to see snow next week amid a prediction temperatures will plummet.

This week has seen a series of record-breaking November temperatures due to “remarkably” mild weather, including the warmest Bonfire Night on record. But as we move into mid-November, winter could well and truly be on the way, with reports of potential snow gaining attention.

The weather agency issued the yellow warnings for areas in Wales, southeast England, and parts of southwest Scotland, with heavy rain expected from Tuesday morning, persisting until midnight.

A Met Office spokesperson said: “By Wednesday night, much of Scotland will be in cooler air moving in from the north. This will bring below freezing overnight temperatures, as well as the risk of some snow over higher ground.

“Those across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as lower levels in most of Scotland, will continue to see precipitation falling as rain.”

Simon Partridge said next week’s forecast is still ‘all to play for’ (Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Speaking to The Independent, Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said there was “potential” northern parts of the UK could see snowfall over the next week - but added warm air coming in from the south meant it was still “all to play for”.

“There is the possibility of snow by the end of next week and into next weekend,” he explained. “There are lots of different computer models and they all run multiple times a day, but some of them are coming up with some cold air coming in from the north that might result in some snow across most likely Scotland.”

But Mr Partridge warned a lot could change between the current forecast and next weekend, with some weather systems predicting a flow of warm air pushing up from the south - which could result in mild temperatures and grey conditions similar to those seen this week.

Yellow weather warnings are in place across the UK as heavy rain is expected on Tuesday (PA Wire)

“At the moment it looks like there is warm air trying to come in from the south and cold air coming in from the north,” he said. “It won’t take a lot for the warm air to be the one that comes out on top which would mean it will probably be very similar to this week.”

But he added there is “certainly is the potential” of colder air coming in across northern parts of the UK, which could result in some snow. He added that although the country has had above-average temperatures this week, a sprinkling of the white stuff in Scotland in mid-November was not uncommon.

“Currently, any chance of snow looks limited to Scotland,” he said. “But just like that warm air might move in, there’s a chance that cold air might come a little bit further south. It’s still all to play for, and we will see how the forecast develops over the coming week.”

It comes after a mild October which saw warmer than average temperatures. The mean temperature in October was provisionally 0.7°C above the 1991-2020 average, with Scotland and Northern Ireland experiencing slightly warmer conditions than the rest of the country.