UK faces 475-mile snow bomb this week with six parts of England hit hardest

The UK faces a staggering 475-mile-wide snow blast as we head towards Christmas and New Year, it has been warned. The country could shiver in sub-zero temperatures with the mercury plunging and teeth-chattering conditions winning out.

WX Charts, which uses Met Desk, shows the mercury for December 22 drop sharply, with flurries of snowfall everywhere from the Scottish Highlands to east of England, in particularly Norfolk, with 1cm per hour, and flurries further afield.

Greater Manchester, Newcastle, Cumbria, Northumberland and Scotland, are likely for snowfall, as well as Norfolk and Lancashire. The snowfall could accumulate at 2cm per hour at times, according to the early projections from the forecaster.

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James Madden, from Exacta Weather, explained: "That expected low pressure will influence some very windy weather and showers for many from tomorrow. Additionally, it will also be cold enough for some of these showers to turn wintry in places and to snow from Wednesday evening and into early Thursday.

"The highest risk of where this will occur will initially come across parts to the west of Scotland, northern England, and Northern Ireland, and later to parts of Wales during this Wednesday evening and into early Thursday period, and despite being definitive across higher ground, we could still see some snow showers appearing to lower levels in this period.

"Additionally, some of these showers could still also turn briefly wintry or to transient snow and appear in some central and southern areas when it is likely to be significantly cooler during these same overnight and early morning periods from Wednesday evening, and possibly more so in some parts of southwest England and to the east of Ireland.

"The expected stormy period (potentially severe in places) and further, more potent snow prospects in and around 23-27 December from our several-month-ahead and unchanged subscribers report is currently looking like arriving for around Sunday (22nd December) of this week instead."