UK weather: More snow to come as thousands face second weekend without power

More snow is set to fall this weekend across parts of the UK as temperatures could plummet to as low as 0C.

Snow is expected in the Welsh mountains and northwards, mainly falling at heights of 250m and above.

It comes as some 9,200 homes remain without power following extensive damage caused by Storm Arwen last week, when winds of more than 80mph hit the UK.

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge told The Independent that snow, hail and blustery conditions were expected on Saturday, but added that these conditions would ease into the evening.

“Some snow is falling at the moment, across northern and eastern Scotland and in the far north of the Pennines,” he said.

“It’s mostly falling at heights of about 250m and higher, so only the highest roads throughout the highlands should be affected.”

Despite that, he said that Saturday would be “a very cold day” across most of the UK.

“High temperatures will range between 5C in the north to 9C in the south, but if you add in the wind it’s going to feel around freezing.”

Sunday is expected to mostly dry, but another band of rain and hill snow is expected to reach the UK early Monday morning.

“December has arrived,” Mr Partridge said. “This will be a relatively unsettled week weather wise, with plenty of wind and rain.

“After a mild autumn, we’re now getting the temperatures and weather we would expect at this time of year.”

Frost is likely in many parts of the UK, including central and western Scotland, which could see temperatures fall to 0C, but strong winds could make it feel much colder.

Met Office meteorologist Steve Keats said that this would be a “fairly typical” early December weekend and added that it would not be “too disruptive”.

He warned however, that strong winds would accompany the cold weather and snow, which could make repairing power lines damaged in last week’s storm more difficult.

Energy network companies have made progress in restoring power to their customers following the significant damage that was sustained during Storm Arwen.

Northern Powergrid said it had restored power to 234,900 of its 240,000 customers who had lost power. Similarly, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks have said that they restored power to 130,000 customers, adding that only 950 customers remained without.

Despite this progress, the Energy Networks Association said that 9,200 homes remained without power as of Friday night - 1,300 of these were in northwest England while 1,250 were in Scotland.

Energy regulator Ofgem has launched an “urgent” review into the response of energy network companies. On Saturday, chief executive Jonathan Brearley told BBC Radio 4 that the regulator would take enforcement action against companies that did not restore power to customers within a reasonable timeframe.

“We are deeply concerned about customers who for over a week have been without power,” he said.

“We want to establish the facts and make sure we understand what has happened, whether the network companies have met their obligations. If they haven’t, we will take enforcement action. We have clear expectations of how fast they should get people back on the system.”

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