Let it snow – watch out for more overnight

Some of this afternoon’s hail Phil Creighton

In case you didn’t notice, at around 3.30pm today the Thames Valley experienced rain, sleet, hail, snow and thunder all at the same time. And The Met Office thinks that more could be on the way, issuing a Yellow Warning for tonight and tomorrow.

Its warning was issued this morning and will go through to 11am tomorrow (Friday). Snow and sleet showers will fall around 5pm tonight, and then around 5am tomorrow morning. A further snow shower is predicted for the early hours of Saturday morning.

The forecasters accurately predicted the sleet, snow and hail showers, and go on to warn of a “more persistent spell of rain, sleet and snow [that] may affect the west and south …. during the early hours of Friday morning. Most areas are unlikely to see large amounts of snow but icy stretches are likely to form on untreated surfaces.”

This will cause some travel disruption – hopefully not as bad as several years ago when Reading ground to a halt in rush hour due to a heavy snow shower falling just before people left their offices, causing the worst gridlock the town has ever seen.

However, those hoping for a winter wonderland may be disappointed – the Met Office only expects half an inch or so of snow to fall, and with temperatures above freezing for most of the day it’ll start to melt.

Last modified on Thursday, 29 January 2015 16:47