Weather: Snow and hail forecast to hit Scotland.

Wintry showers could hit the rest of the UK as the blast of Arctic weather that has brought snow to northern Scotland begins to move south.

Met Office forecasters say the cold weather will move south over the next 24 hours.

Wintry showers could develop anywhere across the country, although any snow is unlikely to settle on lower ground.

The Met Office issued a warning for northern Scotland before the snow arrived yesterday morning and began to edge south.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said the air moving over Britain from the Arctic will bring large thunder clouds which could result in hailstorms, thunder and lightning, as well as the possibility of sleet and snow flurries.

He said: “As we go over the next 36 hours those wintry showers will become quite frequent.

“There’s a possibility of wintry showers just about anywhere in the UK tomorrow but more likely is that people anywhere, really, could see hail.”

Mr Madge said: “The more at risk areas for seeing snow are obviously the northern hills and we could possibly see some settling as far south as places like the higher tops on the North York Moors.

“But generally, what we’ll see in those very showery conditions is that when it starts to rain, it’ll drop the temperature maybe enough to trigger the development of sleet or even the odd snow shower for a time.”

Mr Madge said the colder weather will also bring plummeting temperatures at night.

He said: “By day, the temperatures won’t be too bad. Really, it’s the nighttime temperatures that are going to be quite cold. We will see widespread frosts, possibly anywhere, particularly in inland areas.

“These could be quite sharp in places so there’s an additional warning to gardeners and horticulturists.”

Picture: Peter Jolly. A grasscutter workman picks a bad day to get a puncture on his lawnmower as snow hits Aviemore.