UK faces 444-mile snow bomb with 'half' of England set to be hammered

The UK faces a destabilising 444-mile snow bomb ahead of Christmas as the weather takes a noticeable downturn. The UK is braced for fresh flurries of the white stuff and accumulations of snowfall as we head towards Christmas 25 and the festive season.

WX Charts is predicting that large areas of Scotland and half of England, from London northwards, will see snow on December 22. A large portion of the country - stretching from the northern tip of Scotland, down to the capital - is bracing for snowfall.

December 22 has an 80 per cent to 90 per cent chance of snowy flurries across the whole of Scotland. In England, Northumberland and Cumbria are likely to wake up to a dusting, down through Lancashire, into the Midlands and reaching London.

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Northern Ireland and large chunks of central Wales may also see snow, according to WX Charts. Netweather TV forecasters explained: "High pressure will be close to southern Britain for most of the week, generally centred just to the south or south-west. As a result, it will generally be mild and dry for the majority of England and Wales and near the east coast of Scotland, with persistent westerly winds.

"The westerlies will often bring plenty of cloud into western parts of Britain, but some sunny spells are expected in sheltered eastern areas, especially in eastern Scotland and north-east England. It may also be sunny at times in the south, as ridges of high pressure are expected to cross southern Britain at times, interrupting the input of moisture from the North Atlantic via westerly winds. The brighter, quieter spells in the south of England may also result in some colder nights with frost and fog patches.

"Although it will be mild overall in Scotland and Northern Ireland, in Scotland in particular we can expect some short lived incursions of colder polar maritime air with wintry showers especially on high ground and potentially to lower levels on occasion, especially in the north of Scotland.

"There is a chance of one of these setting in between 23 and 25 December giving potential for a white Christmas for some in the northern half of Scotland, although it looks most likely that we will see a colder blast for Scotland on 23/24 December with milder air coming in for Christmas Day. Some heavy, persistent, orographically enhanced rainfall is expected at times in the west and especially north-west of Scotland. On the other hand, temperatures in parts of eastern and north-eastern Scotland may on occasion be exceptionally high due to the föhn effect."