Election Day Weather Update: Wintry in places

Most places will start the day at or below freezing and with a ground frost. Perhaps as cold as -4C in parts of Scotland.

Whilst most places will begin dry (and crisp), the south west will become increasingly wet and this wet weather will spread east through the day. Most places will see fairly hefty outbreaks of rain, with strong winds. At times these outbreaks of rain may produce hail or sleet, particularly on high ground. Temperatures will be much colder in the north; cold enough for this precipitation to fall as snow for the Scottish uplands in particular. These are your forecast highs for tomorrow (via Meteociel), generally around 2-5C in the North, 6-8C in the South, cold, and feeling it in the wind and rain. 

So a cold, wet and miserable day, perfect for any election!

Another showery day on Friday, however temperatures will be falling into Saturday. Nothing very cold, but do expect chillier conditions. With that comes a risk of some overnight frosts, and some wintry showers in the North. These showers may fall as snow above 300 metres with significant accumulations across the Highlands of Scotland, and possibly higher parts of Northern Ireland. 

Further south conditions will generally be dry, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. It will be cold here to, with daytime highs of around 3 to 5 degreesC on both Saturday and Sunday. Winds will be quite strong to – adding to the cold feel. The showers here, however, may merge at times to form longer spells of rain. Where this occurs, there’s also the chance of some wintry precipitation (sleet / snow). At the moment parts of the Midlands and Northern England look most at risk from this wintry precipitation, which may produce 1-3cm of snow across elevated areas such as the Peak District and Welsh hills. This bodes especially true for Saturday, which is the day we’re keeping a close eye on for the potential of some hill snow (and possibly, not definitely, even to lower levels). 



Following analysis of this risk, we’ve released this weekend snow-risk Summary (map) below. Be aware that the risk is only low. However, there’s the risk of some travel and transport disruption in these areas. We’ll be able to give more definite details on this risk by Friday – so stay tuned. 

 

Due to the colder temperatures in place this weekend, there’s also a risk of some icy patches, especially on untreated roads and surfaces. Temperatures may drop to around -3C in some rural areas on both Friday and Saturday night, especially so in the North.