Severe gales and some snow to hit UK this week, says Met Office

Weather conditions will become ‘unsettled nationwide’ at the end of January

Severe gales and light snow could cause minor disruption in Scotland later this week, the Met Office has warned.

The weather this month has been dominated by high pressure, resulting in generally mild temperatures and dry conditions.

However, a colder front, which is set to hit the UK towards the middle of the week, will fleetingly change this picture.

Temperatures will drop in northern parts of Britain, while north-east Scotland will be buffeted mid-week by “severe gales”, which may require a weather warning to be put in place, according to the Met Office.

Tom Morgan, a meteorologist at the national weather agency, said: “Towards the end of the week, it briefly turns colder in the north. And there will be some snow showers across the higher ground of Scotland on Thursday.”

Roughly 5cm of snow will fall on the larger Munros, with such snowfall unlikely to lead to any travel disruption, he added.

Meanwhile, both England and Wales will see small amounts of rain on Thursday morning.

Although the outlook will brighten on Friday, conditions will then become more mixed as February nears.

“This week is cloudy and quite chilly for most of us. It becomes milder for all of the UK by Friday,” Mr Morgan said.

“Gradually through this weekend and into next week, it turns more unsettled nationwide, with an increasing chance of strong winds, low temperatures, rain at times and some snow, partly in the north.”

January has been one of the driest months since records began in the mid-19th century, as the UK has so far only experienced 38 per cent of the expected average rainfall.

“It’s been a very dry month. We’ll probably see less than half of the expected rainfall across January,” Mr Morgan estimated.

This comes after temperature highs were set earlier this month, with New Year’s Day the warmest ever to be recorded. The mercury rose above 16C in some places that day, far above the usual 7C.