New snow maps show exactly where in Scotland is facing blizzards at the end of the month with six inches expected to fall.
Maps from WXCharts, which uses Met Desk data, show the snow will be heaviest across the Scottish Highlands as an 1,000mile long wall of snow looks set to hit at around 6pm that on January 27. It comes amidst a temporary end to a bitterly cold snap of weather last week.
Temperatures dropped as low as -14C after heavy snowfall in parts of the country left roads cut off, schools closed and homes without power. The icy cold temperatures continued all week, before thawing to a milder 8-10C this week.
The Met Office has forecast a “transition” later this month, where dry and “unsettled” conditions could soon become much wetter. Maps from WXCharts suggest this could be in the form of snow set to make its return in two weeks’ time, reports the Mirror.
Further maps from the service show a thick purple band of the white stuff heading towards Scotland on the afternoon of January 27. The patch, outspread across Lancashire, the North East and the Scottish Borders, as well as parts of Ireland, could bring up to 2cm per hour.
The Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands will see the heaviest snow later that evening, if the forecast is accurate, with the maps showing that up to 3cm could fall per hour over high ground. The area around the park, including Aberdeen, Inverness and Edinburgh, will see around 2cm per hour.
The Met Office forecast for the period, which covers January 19 to 28, states: “This period is expected to see a transition, possibly lasting over several days, between the settled, dry, and often dull conditions expected over the next few days, to something more unsettled.
“Sunday itself is likely to be rather cloudy and cool, with outbreaks of rain in the west drifting slowly eastwards. The start of the following week will most likely see more settled conditions with light winds becoming re-established, with a chance of rain in both the far north and the far south, and a smaller chance that the rain could become more widespread.
“Later in the week, periods of much wetter and windier weather will most likely become more prevalent, from northwest to southeast, alternatively there is a very small chance of colder, drier, but perhaps wintry, easterly winds.”
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