Met Office issues urgent 'danger to life' snow warning as Britain to be blasted in hours
The forecaster has put out amber weather alerts for parts of the UK for tomorrow (Thursday, February 8).
The Met Office has issued urgent "danger to life" weather warnings with the UK set to be blasted by snow in a matter of hours. The forecaster has put out the rare amber alerts for tomorrow (Thursday, February 8) with parts of Wales, the Midlands and Yorkshire affected.
Forecasters at WXCharts say a thick blanket of snow will work its way up from the Midlands to the north of England and the Scotland while the rest of the country will see wet and windy weather tomorrow.
Snowfall is expected to continue into Friday in the north of the UK with Manchester and Newcastle among the cities in the firing line.
Northern Ireland is also expected to be hit with snow before the end of the week.
As well as the amber alerts, a number of yellow alerts have also been issued for other parts of the country in what is expected to be a difficult end to the week for Brits.
The Met Office amber warnings for snow and ice cover two areas. One cover the Peak District and south Pennies and runs from 12pm to 6pm on February 8.
The second runs from 8am to 3pm and covers most of north Wales and parts of Shropshire over the border with England.
When issuing the warnings, the Met Office said: "Snow is expected to develop during Thursday morning and become persistent and at times heavy by the afternoon before slowly easing through the evening.
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"Across the warning area, 10 to 15 cm of snow is expected quite widely but some places, particularly above 300 metres, may see 25cm of snow. Strong and gusty easterly winds may lead to some drifting in places."
It warns residents in these areas not to drive in extreme weather and, if it is absolutely necessary, to do so using dipped headlights, accelerating gently, using low revs and changing to higher gears as quickly as possible.
The Met Office also urged Brits in those areas covered by amber warnings to prepare for power cuts.
It said: "People cope better with power cuts when they have prepared for them in advance. It’s easy to do; consider gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items."
Met Office five-day forecast
Today: Dry and sunny but feeling colder than yesterday for most. Sunshine will be hazy with a cloudier picture in the far south, before rain returns to the southwest later. Sleet, hail and snow showers continuing in Scotland.
Tonight: Rain moves into the southwest and tracks northeastwards through the night. Locally heavy for Wales and southern England with wintry showers continuing for Scotland. Widespread frost elsewhere.
Thursday: Rain, sleet and snow pushes northwards as intensity decreases through the day. Most snow confined to north Wales, Northern Ireland and north England, especially on high ground. Sunny spells elsewhere.
Outlook for Friday to Sunday: Largely cloudy on Friday and Saturday with some rain in the south, and wintry showers further north. Drier in the east on Sunday with light winds, cloudier in the west.