Parts of the UK to be hit with snow storm on 'darkest day of year' in Christmas run-up

The UK is on alert for what could be the "darkest day of the year" as meteorologists predict a 48-hour snowstorm is on the horizon. According to WX CHARTS' latest maps, which use Met Desk data, significant snowfall is anticipated on December 21 and 22, just before Christmas.

Areas such as Scotland, northern England, Wales, and the Midlands could experience up to 10mm of rain per hour and 0.4cm of snowfall per hour on December 21. The whiteout conditions are expected to continue into the following day, especially in the north, with at least 1cm of snow per hour forecasted.

James Madden from Exacta Weather has been quoted by Birmingham Live saying: "Cold enough for snow by Wednesday evening and into Thursday/Friday update... The following and detailed weather update from yesterday morning (website and Facebook) stated the following in the FIRST paragraphs of the update in reference to this week."

"The upcoming week will bring a very MIXED theme of weather for many parts of the country with further grey skies and COOL to COLD weather among some potential brighter and LESS COLD spells and WINDY to potentially VERY WINDY conditions for many at times."

He further commented: "Additionally, it WILL also be cold enough for any precipitation to turn to snow during this period, particularly from around Wednesday evening and into Thursday and Friday from some expected low-pressure features that will also make it quite windy for many."

He said: "Some wintry and snow showers in western areas by the weekend + expect another snowy/stormy period around Christmas! Some of the latest third-party model runs and the GFS are now showing the possibility of some sporadic wintry and snow showers in some western parts of the UK and Scotland from around Friday of this week and into this weekend."

"However, they and my own shorter-range weather projections are still not in any kind of recognition for a snowy period to develop immediately after this, and if we do see any changes to this within the models for later next week, then they will come about and become more of a feature within the next 2-4 days for later next week."

"However, moving away from this period and to our next, now quite high-confidence, potentially snowy and stormy period will actually come in and around our expected dates of December 23-27 and match our much earlier several-month-ahead subscribers winter forecast for this on these exact dates."

"Additionally, there are also good indicators for this to occur within my own and other main third-party model projections for these same dates."

Will it be a white Christmas?

The Met Office has given its verdict on what the UK can expect from the weather on Christmas Day - and chances of a White Christmas are looking unlikely.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern explained: "There's broad agreement for the week of Christmas at the moment for higher pressure somewhere to the west or south-west of the UK, mostly a westerly Atlantic influence - more unsettled towards the North, more settled towards the South. Certainly no signs a strong signal for a White Christmas - but nothing can be ruled out at this stage."

What is a white Christmas?

The definition that the Met Office uses to declare a White Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25 somewhere in the UK. This means that even when a White Christmas is officially declared, many areas may still miss out on seeing snow.