Following the two recent spells of extreme cold weather there has been speculation that a cold and snowy Easter is on its way.
However for the majority of the country and for the majority of the time, this is not so.
As we head through this week the weather will become generally more unsettled with many of us seeing showers or longer spells of rain at times as well as some sunny spells. It will be windy at times for many too as well as colder than average with some of us seeing overnight frosts. There is still a risk that we could see some snow in places as we head through the week, this most likely in the north of England and Scotland, particularly over hills. There is also a low risk of snow in the south on Wednesday as a weather system moves eastwards across northern France – this is a much more marginal situation than those earlier this month and would need a variety of factors to come together.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Frank Saunders, said: “It is important to point out that we are not expecting anything on the scale of the last two spells of unusually cold weather which brought significant and disruptive snowfall.
“Throughout the Easter weekend it will stay unsettled with showers or longer outbreaks of rain for most. There will be some sunshine at times as well though, with the best of any drier and brighter weather expected across the northwest”.
It is going to continue to feel on the cold side throughout much of the holiday period and there is a still a risk of snow in some places, but mainly over higher ground in the northeast of the UK. Parts of the south could turn a little milder by the end of the Holiday weekend. It is worth noting that given the time of year the sun is much stronger than it was even a month ago and the daylight hours longer, meaning any snow is less likely to settle by day, so even if we do see some snow to low levels it is more unlikely to cause disruption.
After the weekend the weather may become more settled across northern parts for a time, but southern parts are still likely to see showers or longer spells of rain at times.
It is possible more settled weather may develop as we go through the start of April for much of the country, giving a drier spell of weather, but still with night frosts. The Met Office will continue to monitor the situation and issue advice accordingly.
You can find out the current forecast in your area using the Met Office forecast pages and by followingthem on Twitter and Facebook, as well as using the mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store.
