UK weather: Snow hits east coast as other parts of country bask in sunshine
Snow has hit the UK, bringing a chilly start to British Summer Time.
Many people have been out taking advantage of several days of sunshine since Britain began its coronavirus lockdown on Monday.
But snow, sleet and rain has hit the entire east coast of England this weekend, sending temperatures plummeting to single figures.
Twitter users rushed to share videos of the white stuff falling on Sunday morning – but Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said it would be unlikely to lie on the ground.
He told The Independent: “We’ve got a mix of rain, sleet and snow showers running down the eastern side of England as far north as Newcastle and as far south as Kent.
“Nothing is really settling apart from on top of the Moors and Pennines, about one to two centimetres.
“They are in the form of showers so they are coming and going and the sun is melting things quite quickly.
“Compared to during the week, it’s going to feel a lot colder for many if they are doing their exercise and it’s fairly windy as well.”
It is expected to stay dry across the rest of the UK, which could continue to bask in sunny spells on Sunday.
But most of Britain will struggle to see higher than 5C to 9C on Sunday – compared to the highs of 15C to 18C last week.
The mercury is then expected to drop as low as 1C in the east overnight and 3C in the west, where there will be patchy frost.
Fortunately the cold weather is expected to be short-lived, as temperatures should climb back to highs of 10C to 11C on Monday, with slightly lighter winds.
Mr Dewhurst added: “Tomorrow should feel a little bit less cold. There will be some showers in the east and north but they should generally fall as rain.
Properly coming down now - but not sticking. 😔
Very pretty though 3/10 #uksnow #hd2 pic.twitter.com/r1UNWe5qTQ— This is Hena (@hena_h)
“The best of the sunny spells tomorrow will be in western parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“Looking toward Tuesday and Wednesday, it stays fairly similar. It will be fairly dry, one or two showers around, but overall it will tend to be cloudy skies.
“Temperatures again will be a maximum of around 11C to 12C.”
The UK lost an hour in bed as the clocks went forward by one hour at 1am on Sunday as part of Daylight Saving Time, marking the beginning of British Summer Time.
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