Snow and ice weather warning issued for Wales

• Ruth Dodsworth reports.

The Met Office has issued a snow and ice weather warning for Wales this weekend, with up to 30cm of snow forecast on higher ground.

The yellow weather warning kicks in at noon on Saturday, 4 January, and lasts until 11.59pm on Sunday, 5 January, with the forecaster warning of some disruption due to "heavy snow, and some freezing rain in places".

It covers all of Wales and the majority of England.

A three-day weather warning was initially in place for snow, but this has been updated to cover snow and ice and end on Sunday instead of Monday.

The forecaster warns that rural communities could be cut off, while power cuts and travel disruption may occur.

The Met Office warning said: "Some significant accumulations of snow are possible across parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England in particular, at least for a time, where 5cm or more could accumulate fairly widely, with perhaps as much as 20-30cm over high ground of mid and north Wales and potentially 30-40cm over parts of the Pennines. This, accompanied by strengthening winds, may lead to drifting of lying snow.

"In addition, as milder air moves northwards, snow may turn to a spell of freezing rain for a time, again more especially across parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England, adding to the risk of ice and leading to some treacherous conditions in places. A fairly rapid thaw of lying snow is possible later on Sunday, although exactly how far north the rapid thaw will reach remains uncertain at this stage."

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “It’s definitely going to start off as snow in many places but it’s a question of how quickly that snow melts and turns back to rain, it’s more likely that the snow won’t last that long in southern England.

“It’s quite likely the warning will be updated quite frequently between now and the weekend.

“Certainly if you’ve got travel plans on Sunday and perhaps Monday stay tuned into the forecast.”

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