UK faces '81 hours of non stop' -8C snow and flurries will begin this week

The UK faces 81 hours of non stop snow - with England hammered by a -8C wintry blast as we head further away from Christmas. Temperatures will plunge to as low as -8C as we head through the calendar month and towards February.

WXCharts maps and charts, which are modelled using Met Desk data, show snow January 23 at around 9am lasting over the next three days, until around 6pm on January 26. Places set to be hammered include Wick in Scotland.

Other areas hit include the Scottish Highlands, such as Inverness, Fort William, and Portree. Jim Dale, a meteorologist with British Weather Services, said: "I think it’s right to say the return to snow for some - more so northern regions, following the passage of a possible storm this Friday and Saturday."

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"In and around the start of next week (20th January) and through much of that week, we will start to see the overall theme turning colder and more wintry again, paving the way for some further notable cold and widespread snow once again for the UK and Ireland throughout late January and into early February," James Madden, from Exacta Weather, has said.

Netweather TV said: "Temperatures are forecast to be 1 to 2C above normal in most regions, with the largest anomalies in northern Scotland, but they will probably be close to normal in parts of central and eastern England, especially towards the south-east where there is potential for some areas to be up to 1C colder than normal.

"It is forecast to be drier than normal in most eastern parts of the UK, but precipitation totals are likely to be near normal in most western areas, and probably above normal in Northern Ireland and west Wales and south-west England.

"Sunshine totals are forecast to be below normal for most of the UK, but probably above normal in parts of northern Scotland, sheltered from the southerly winds."