OK, it’s been Christmas, and after New Year everything feels a bit… bleak. Really the only thing that can be in any way magical after the festive season is a good sprinkling of snow, and when we say Manchester is in for a blanket of the white stuff in early January, we mean it.
The Met Office has issued its 10-day forecast, with the North West set to see freezing temperatures in the coming weeks.
The Met Office forecast for the North West, including Greater Manchester, is as follows:
This evening and tonight (Weds 31st Dec)
Largely cloudy but dry this evening, before outbreaks of rain and some hill snow move southwards overnight. Winds also strengthening overnight limiting frost to upland areas, but enhancing the cold feel as we start New Year’s Day. Minimum temperature 2 °C.
Thursday (1st Jan)
Showery rain clearing New Year’s Day morning, with brighter spells following. Variable cloud in the afternoon with a few showers around Merseyside and Cheshire. Chilly in the gusty wind. Maximum temperature 6 °C.
Outlook for Friday (2nd Jan) to Sunday (4th Jan)
Prolonged periods of sunshine on Friday and throughout the weekend. Mostly dry, though scattered wintry showers possible in the south. Breezy and turning colder with severe frosts and ice overnight.
There is also now a yellow weather warning in place for snow and ice creeping into Greater Manchester – mostly around Cheshire, Didsbury, Stockport and potentially up into the city centre.
And the wintry showers don’t stop there. Forecast website WX Charts plots the likelihood that parts of the UK will see snow in early January, and brace yourselves, because we see a couple of snow days in our future.
The morning of Friday 2 January will see the first of the snow, with the south and south west of Manchester, around Altrincham, Knutsford and Warrington, gathering the most, around 2cm per hour. The snow moves upward to cover the city centre and areas west of Manchester on 6 January, with areas of Wales and Lancashire also seeing some snow falling.
Then, we get to 7 January, when a large band of light snow is set to fall all along the west of England, covering the entirety of Wales, over Manchester and up to Scotland. The snow then continues, getting gradually heavier throughout the night, and we should see a good 4cm per hour in Manchester – but we’ll be keeping an eye on the forecast to see if it’s set to continue further.
As always, have fun and stay safe out there in the cold and snow – do keep up to date with your local weather forecast and check before you travel.
