The Met Office has released its long range forecast for early December – and fans of snow are in luck.
Snow and ice have been causing chaos on trains and roads this week, with yellow weather warnings in place across the UK.
Schools have been forced to close and dozens of rail services have been cancelled or delayed.
But once this spell of cold and frosty weather clears up, it may not be very long until the white stuff comes back.
The Met Office has now released its long range forecast covering December 4 to 18, and it predicts chilly weather in the lead-up to Christmas.
It’s still too early to tell whether we’ll have a white Christmas this year, but forecasters believe there is a ‘risk of some snow’ in the weeks leading up to December 25.
When will it snow again? Met Office forecast
The full Met Office long range forecast says: ‘The start of this period looks like being largely settled, with high pressure close to if not over the UK.
‘However there is also a chance of more changeable weather patterns, which would see Atlantic weather systems periodically move across the country.
‘These will bring some wetter and windier interludes with a risk of some snow, especially for hills in the north.
‘These conditions look more likely to dominate towards the middle of December.
‘Temperatures generally close to average through the period.’
When could it snow in London again?
It’s difficult for meteorologists to predict long range weather forecasts in any detail.
This is because, when looking beyond the next five days or so, the chaotic nature of earth’s atmosphere comes into play.
The Met Office explains: ‘Small events currently over the Atlantic can have potentially significant impacts on our weather in the UK in several days’ time.
‘Therefore, whilst we can still forecast the general feel of the weather to a relatively high level of accuracy using our ensemble models, it becomes harder to offer local detail to as high a level of accuracy as our shorter range forecasts.’
This is why their longer range forecasts cover the UK as a whole, rather than breaking weather down to a more granular level, making it pretty difficult to predict when London will next see snow.
When do the weather warnings end this week?
The yellow weather warnings currently in place are all set to end at various times throughout Wednesday morning.
There aren’t any more warnings in place for the rest of the week, but this could change as the situation develops.
Here are the current end times for the yellow snow and ice weather warnings in place:
- Northern Scotland: 10am Wednesday
- Western Scotland: 10am Wednesday
- Northern Ireland: 10am Wednesday
- East coast of England: 12pm Wednesday
- Wales: 10am Wednesday
- Central and southern England: 10am Wednesday
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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