Snow falls in London as Met Office issues rush hour travel warning

Snow could bring rush hour delays to parts of the UK this evening, with the Met Office issuing a severe weather warning.

Wintry showers will continue to affect much of Scotland and eastern England later today, with commuters warned their journeys could take longer than expected.

Snow also fell in central London this morning, however Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said it “would be fleeting and it would not settle”.

“Showers arriving from the east coast will bring rain, sleet, snow and hail today,” the Met Office said.

Yellow weather warnings for icy patches in western Wales, Cornwall and much of Northern Ireland have also been issued.

Pedestrians should also take extra care due to icy stretches on pavements, forecasters said.

“Journey times may be longer by road, bus and rail,” said the Met Office.

“Icy stretches are also expected to form on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths or where showers cause wash off on treated roads, particularly during Thursday evening and Friday morning.”

Up to 2-5 cm of snow could fall on ground above 100m, primarily over Scotland and northeast England.

A centimetre or two of snow is possible to low levels, they added, however this is expected to be “churned up and melt”.

Snow in London was trending on Twitter today, with many sharing photos and images using the hashtag #snowwatch.

Ms Roberts said that Thursday night going into Friday could be the coldest of the season so far, with the mercury potentially sinking below the -6.3C recorded in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, on November 25.

She said: “It could well fall below that to make it the coldest of the autumn. It would be isolated and more widely temperatures are likely to be between minus 4C and 2C so it will be a frosty start and there will be icy stretches.”

Temperatures are expected to increase over the weekend and could rise to double-digits, forecasters said.