UK weather expert warns 'snow grains' to pelt southern England as temperatures plummet

A person seen walking in the freezing early morning weather at Blackheath Park in London
-Credit:Hesther Ng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images


A meteorologist is warning southern England will be hit by snow grains overnight as the forecast is for a very chilly night. They look set to hit overnight (Saturday, January 18 into Sunday, January 19) following a day where there has been a blanket of cloud and now colder air is coming up from the near continent.

In an online forecast, weather expert Kathryn Chalk said: “It is going to be a cold night underneath this blanket of cloud, temperatures close to freezing, but still mild across Northern Ireland and western parts of Scotland. So if you are up early Sunday morning on your stroll across the south, you may see some drizzle, but also some snow grain being brought up from the English Channel.”

Temperatures are due to hover at about 2C in London overnight but it is expected to feel as though it is at the point of freezing. Parts of northern Scotland enjoyed Saturday’s top temperatures at around 12C or 13C while the figures struggled to around 3C or 5C towards the south and eastern England.

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Sunday is set to be chilly and there is “a continued risk of drizzle and snow grain in the south where cloud is thick enough”, the Met Office said in its five-day forecast. It will be cloudy and wet in the far west and the grey, drab coldness of winter will continue into the new week.

Britons can expect “a cloudy outlook through the start of the new working week, with showery rain spreading erratically eastwards” with temperatures generally around average in the north but chilly further south, it said.

What to look out for to spot snow grains

Snow grains are the solid equivalent of drizzle and look like very small white and opaque grains of ice. They are fairly flat or elongated and are usually less than 1mm across. A Met Office spokesperson said: "Snow grains are a very small form of solid precipitation."

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A video on the Met Office website adds: "On cloudy day, when the temperature is close to or below freezing you may spot miniature snow balls falling from the sky. They are tiny and brittle to touch. This is frozen drizzle and falls as small grains of ice from low layer cloud."

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