Yahoo News 546-mile Arctic bomb incoming as wall of snow to batter UK in December
The UK is braced for a new 546-mile wide Arctic bomb with snow sweeping across multiple parts of the UK next month.
The latest weather maps from WXCharts show a chilly wintry front hitting the nation in the middle of December. It will send temperatures plummeting and as much as 10cm of snow could fall in some of the worst-hit areas around the Scottish borders.
The north west of England, coastal areas of Wales and much of Northern Ireland are also forecast to receive significant flurries. The snowfall from the Arctic Circle is looking likely to cover around 546 miles of land, with flurries reaching around 1cm per hour over the worst-hit areas, the Mirror reports.
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The Met Office forecast suggests the weather will remain "unsettled" into December, although more likely dominated by rain than snowfall. It comes after the recent cold snap which swept across many areas, with the Met Office issuing yellow weather warnings for snow and ice in various regions.
Scotland is forecast to be blanketed in snow from midday on December 11 - 8cm is predicted to fall in one hour near Inverness. As much as 13cm per hour could fall in northern Scotland.
Major cities including Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Cardiff set to turn white, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland. There could also be wintery weather over the Christmas period, according to the long-range forecast from the Met Office, which calls for “a risk of snow” between December 13 and 27.
“Across the south of the country, high pressure is signalled to be prevalent through the second half of December,” the forecast said. “Less settled weather is more likely at times though, especially across the north and west. This means wetter and windier spells are possible with a risk of some snow, especially across northern hills.
“These weather systems are expected to move fairly promptly, with settled spells developing between them, with settled conditions perhaps becoming UK-wide. As a result of these, frost and fog will be notably present where skies clear overnight. Temperatures generally close to average through the period, or slightly above in areas which are wet and windy.”
In the short term, the weather is set to remain cloudy across northern and western parts, with outbreaks of rain slowly edging eastwards, the Met Office said. Conditions are expected to be drier and brighter further south and east, with spells of hazy sunshine but it will feel cold in the east, with mild and breezy conditions in the west.
