UK weather forecast: Temperatures drop below freezing as first snow of season hits parts of Scotland

Temperatures are set to plummet close to freezing this weekend as the first snow of the season hits parts of the UK.

The mercury plunged to –0.1C in Dalwhinnie, Scotland, overnight, while temperatures in Shobdon, in Hereford, got down to 0.9C.

Saturday is expected to be a particularly chilly day with sunshine, showers and even some thunder, while higher parts of Scotland will see some sleet and snow.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkhill said much of the country is likely to see daytime highs of 14C or 15C this weekend - which is slightly below average for the time of year.

Meanwhile, overnight temperatures will dip to 1C and 2C in quite a few rural places and could even plummet close to freezing.

The forecaster told The Independent: “It is chilly particularly today but Sunday will be less chilly.

“Today it’s sunshine and showers for most places. I think the showers will be heaviest across some Irish Sea areas, maybe also some central and eastern parts of England, and even in eastern England it’s not out of the question that we could get some thunder mixed in as well.

“Elsewhere there is still the risk of some showers, but perhaps the greatest chance of staying dry is towards those southern parts of Scotland and southern England.

“There will be further showers tonight, particularly in Northern Ireland, northern parts of Scotland and then also northwest and west England, but otherwise a largely dry night with clear spells.

“It will turn quite chilly so we will get a touch of frost with temperatures dipping into low single figures away from the towns and cities.”

Mr Burkhill said the only other thing to bear in mind is a spell of wet weather coming through for the west of the country this weekend and particularly into Monday.

However he added: “It’s not an insignificant amount of rain expected – the Environment Agency does have some flood alerts out – but from the Met Office’s point of view some places will only get 20mm to 30mm so it’s nowhere near on the scale of what we saw last weekend.”

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