UK faces 'seven inches of snow per hour' with nine major cities hammered
The UK faces 48 hours worth of snow - with SEVEN INCHES an hour hitting at times - in a December blast from the Arctic. Fresh WX Charts maps and charts show the UK being hammered by snow for around 48 hours as temperatures plunge towards Christmas.
On December 11 at around 12pm, 8cm is set to fall near Inverness, before spreading southwards in Scotland, towards capital city Edinburgh, and major cities like Glasgow and Aberdeen. By midnight the next date, December 12, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Cardiff could be hammered.
Belfast in Northern Ireland also faces a pummelling as the white stuff intensifies further, with up to 19cm per hour. James Madden, from Exacta Weather, has had his say, warning: "The GFS continues to strongly match our much earlier projections for a wintry blast and further snow showers in places and possibly quite far south at times for around December 2-4, and before something much bigger and more potent arrives in terms of even more widespread snow around 11th December.
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"Here comes the December cold and snow we promised..." Despite Mr Madden's projections, the Met Office isn't convinced, with a December 10 to December 24 forecast explaining: "Settled weather is signalled to be most likely at first, at least across the south. However, towards mid-December, there are signs that the weather will become less settled again, with west or northwesterly types preferred.
"These will bring some wetter and windier spells with a risk of some snow, especially across northern hills. These conditions may prevail into late December, although drier, more settled spells may also affect the UK at times, again these probably more likely towards the south."
And the outlook goes on to also add: "Temperatures generally close to average through the period, or slightly above in areas which are wet and windy."