Snow risk to follow severe gales

Following a quiet spell of weather last week, a fast-moving jet stream has sent the weather into overdrive, with low pressure after low pressure arriving on our shores.

The most notable element of the weather later on Wednesday and into Thursday will be the strength of the wind.

The north coast of Northern Ireland and the far west of Scotland will see potentially damaging gusts of 70-80mph widely, which may cause some disruption.

Elsewhere across the UK, there’ll be gusts of around 60mph for a time this evening, as a band of intense rain sweeps through with a risk of localised flooding.

However, another feature that shouldn’t be overlooked is the arrival of much colder air into Thursday morning. It’s this colder air that will provide a risk of wintry weather for a time.

Snow risk tomorrow

Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England will have frequent wintry showers being blown in on a cold and strong westerly wind from the early hours of Thursday morning.

By the end of Thursday, there’s likely to be a few centimetres of snow over the hills of Northern Ireland and northern England, with as much as 10-20cm over the mountains of north west Scotland.

Another feature that really needs watching is a narrow band of intense rain that sweeps eastwards across England and Wales during Thursday afternoon and evening.

Weather computer models are turning the rain to snow over inland areas as colder air is dragged down from aloft.

Whilst confidence in the detail is low, there is a chance that there could be a temporary covering of 1-3cm later tomorrow across the hills of Wales, south west England, and the Midlands above 200 metres.

There may well be some snow mixed in with the rain at sea-level anywhere, but it is unlikely to accumulate.

More information will become available later today, so be sure to follow me in Twitter for updates – @liamdutton