Thundersnow warning as UK set to be colder than FINLAND

A recent spell of warm weather in the UK has come to an abrupt end as an Arctic blast has made the country colder than FINLAND.

The mercury plunged to a freezing -4.1 degrees in Northumberland, with Finland capital Helsinki only slightly warmer at -3 overnight.

As areas of Britain woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning, the Met Office has now issued a thundersnow warning across some parts of the country, particularly in Scotland.

The weather forecasters tweeted: “There’ll be sunny spells this afternoon but also plenty of showers.

“These will be wintry in parts with some #hail or #thundersnow possible.”

Thundersnow is a rare weather phenomenon that sees snow replace rain in a thunderstorm as a result of warm air at ground level colliding with cold air above it.

The blast of late winter weather has already brought snow flurries to many parts of the North of England and the Midlands, including Birmingham.

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Towns as far south as Norwich reported waking to a smattering of snow this morning, with areas including Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North East also reporting wintry showers.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “We are going to see plenty of showers.

“They could be intense at times and, as a result, that will bring the risk of something wintry, even though temperatures are set to climb a little bit as we go through the day.”

He added: “The further north you are, the better chance you’ve got of catching a shower and a greater chance of any shower turning wintry.

“But you can’t rule it out further south.”

Mr Burkill said that snow at the end of April is unusual but not really that rare, with showers on April 26 as recently as last year.

He said: “It is fairly uncommon but we have seen events like this before.

“You only have to go back as far as last year – we had snow as late as this time.”

Thankfully for sun seekers Wednesday will be the last day of the cold snap, with temperatures rising towards the end of the week.

However, Britons should brace themselves for a wash out Bank Holiday, with the best of the weather coming on Saturday.

Met Office spokeswoman Emma Sharples said: “If people have outdoor plans, they should do them on Saturday.

“We expect clouds and showers throughout Monday.”

Top pic: PA