Britain Could Be Set For A 'White Halloween' With 10cm Snow Possible

Britain could be about to be plunged headfirst into winter and some places might even see a 'White Halloween' according to forecasters.

Yes, that's right, if you haven't already, you'll be needing your big coat over the next few weeks.

It seems as if it was only yesterday that we were enjoying unseasonably warm weather after what was an unusually warm summer. It was bliss, but now normal service is resumed, I'm afraid.

In Northern Britain - where else - temperatures could even plummet to as low as -5 degrees Celsius. That's cold even for Scotland in winter.

This is because cold air from the Arctic is about to blow its way down from the north intent on chilling the bollocks off everyone who gets in the way.

That's going to make things a lot colder and introduce the possibility of snow for the first time since the end of summer. Whilst the freezing air will probably be obvious to everyone, the snow will likely only be a big deal across the higher ground.

That said, there could still be some tedious snow flurries across the south of England as well, so you might not escape entirely if you live around there.

The snow is expected to materialise around Saturday evening, and in places like Snowdonia and the Welsh Mountains it could be significantly more than the 0.5cm that Londoners might see.

Of course, as it always does, Scotland and the north of England will be in danger of catching the worst of the weather.

That could mean 4cm of snow, rising to as much as 10cm if you live in the Scottish mountains. That'll not bother those hardy folks up there, mind. They've seen worse.

The snow could continue all weekend if we're really unlucky.

Brian Glazer, from The Weather Outlook, said: "The cold conditions are expected to push southwards on Friday and in the north showers could begin turning to snow. By Saturday all of the UK is likely to be under a cold northerly air stream.

"Showers are expected with most of them in coastal districts and the north, where they could increasingly turn to snow.

"Over high ground in the north settling snow is possible and the Scottish mountains could see accumulations of 5cm to 10cm.

"The northerly air stream is looking quite unstable and it leads to the possibility of embedded disturbances in it bringing more organised bands of showers southwards.

"If that happens, it's not out of the question that in heavier bursts rain could turn to snow even in the southern half of the UK, especially over high ground."

He continued: "It would be very unusual to see snow so early in the season in the southern half of the UK, but October 28th 2008 brought a covering of snow even to central London, so it is not completely out of the question.

"Ironically this weekend marks the 10th anniversary of that event and computer models are predicting similar weather patterns.

"By Sunday high pressure may be pushing in from the west and that could lead to a widespread frost. Temperatures in much of the UK could fall below freezing point and in the Scottish Glens values could dip below -5C (23F).

"Cold weather probably continues early next week but there is a risk of it turning wet."

Great, let's hope it rains instead of snows. That's not much of a choice, though.