Hold on! Snow and rain ‘coaster’ to hit

HEAVY rain, wind, snow and freezing temperatures will hit this week in a ‘roller coaster’ of stormy weather, according to forecasters.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will begin mildly for many in southern England and Wales, with the mercury rising to an unseasonable high of 17C due to an ‘ex-tropical storm’ – but then plunging by as much as 7C across the country on Thursday.

The Met Office cautioned a ‘different story’ elsewhere – as 25 flood warnings were in place yesterday in England, stretching from Cornwall to Carlisle. And warnings are in place for parts of north-western Scotland tomorrow, as ‘heavy and prolonged rain’ is expected to bring flooding.

Snow might also be seen in mountainous regions in the north-west of England and Scotland.

‘It’s going to be a bit of a roller coaster next week with a spell of unsettled weather on the way,’ said the Met Office’s Tom Morgan.

‘What we will see on Thursday is very windy and severe gales, and even some snow in the mountainous regions of Scotland.

‘The south of England could also become fairly frosty as a jet stream of low pressure begins to move down from Scandinavia, dragging the temperature down to a high of 9C.’

He added that the mountainous regions of Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England could see ‘up to 150mm of rainfall’ this week.

He also advised about taking precautions for potential floods, which could damage buildings and cause delays to transport.