Eggs-treme Easter weather with heavy snowfall and plunging temperatures
Scots have been warned to brace themselves for a cold snap as warnings for heavy snowfall and high winds have been issued for parts of the country with temperatures in some areas plummeting to -7C.
Gusts up to 70mph and heavy snow fall was expected to hit Scotland’s central region, Strathclyde, the Highlands, Grampian and Shetland Isles from 6pm on Sunday.
The extreme weather has been forecast to last through to this evening with snow in the Grampian, Highland, Orkney and Shetland regions expected to last until about 10am on Tuesday.
Sub-zero temperatures are to hit most parts of the UK over the next couple of days with some areas in Scotland seeing the mercury drop to -7C bringing and end to the spell of good weather.
The northern regions of Scotland will be hit hardest by the cold snap where 2cm to 5cm of snow may accumulate at low levels, 5cm to 10cm in areas above 150m, and 15cm of snow on ground above 300m.
The dire forecast comes as people flocked to beaches and parks, over the holiday weekend to enjoy the sunshine.
Met Office forecaster Sarah Kent said: “We will see this plunge of much colder conditions coming in. It’s Arctic maritime air, which does mean it’s coming from the Arctic. So it’s going to be cold for everybody, but also windy too. The wind chill is going to be significant.”
Experts warned that travel disruption will be likely in the areas affected by the spell of cold weather as strong winds will cause drifting of lying snow and blizzard conditions.
Some roads and railways are likely to be impacted with journey times by road, bus and train to take longer than expected.
Meteorologist Ms Kent added: “Today [Sunday] is a lovely day for an Easter egg hunt in the back garden, whereas tomorrow if you were doing one you’d probably want to wear three jumpers.”
Parts of Scotland have already faced disruption due to high winds.
The Tay Road Bridge on the A92 closed to double decker buses yesterday afternoon because of the extreme weather. A 30mph speed limit was put in place for all vehicles travelling across it as a safety measure.
Scotrail issued a statement ahead of the cold spell saying: “Making an essential journey tomorrow? Please be aware that there's a yellow Met Office weather warning in place for snow and wind. This may cause disruption to some services that run north of Perth, so please check your journey before heading out.”
Traffic watchdog Traffic Scotland also warned motorists that the extreme weather could bring disruption to road travel as temperatures plummet.
Coastal areas of eastern England, parts of Wales and Northern Ireland could also see snow showers on Easter Monday. Southern England can expect to see some sunshine and highs of 7C later in the day, but gusts of up to 30mph will make the temperature “feel like” -1C, Ms Kent said.
Parts of the UK saw the mercury reach nearly 24C (75.2F) on Wednesday.