White Boxing Day for some as snow falls in Northern England and Scotland

26 December 2021, 10:58

Parts of Northern England and Scotland have seen snow fall on Boxing Day with yellow weather warnings in place.

The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for snow in the north of the country, with heavy downfalls already causing travel problems in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The warning is in place until lunchtime on Boxing Day, with snow and strong winds expected, leading to possible disruption, mainly to travel over higher ground.

The warning area has been extended further south into Derbyshire, as well as a little further east over Durham and Northumberland.

Snow has already fallen in Yorkshire, where there has been disruption on the roads.

National Highways Yorkshire tweeted: "The conditions on the #M62 have improved and we now have at least 2 lanes clear of snow between J21 and J23 in both directions.

"As traffic increases the snow on will clear further.

"There are no delays in the area."

A separate warning for snow is in place in Scotland, to the north of Stirling.

A Met Office spokesman said: "As an area of rain moves northwards, it looks like turning to snow over parts of northern England, and then southern and central Scotland.

"Accumulations of 2-4 cm of snow are possible above 200 metres and 5-10 cm above 300 metres.

"Coupled with strong winds, gusting to 35 to 45 mph in places, this is likely to lead to some difficult travel conditions across higher Pennine and Cumbrian routes, as well as the Southern Uplands, during the early hours of Sunday.

"Temporary blizzard conditions may be encountered above around 300 or 400 metres elevation. These conditions will probably move into some hillier central parts of Scotland during Sunday morning, while snow turns back to rain further south."

The Met Office said some "short term" loss of power and other services is possible during the period of the warnings.

On Saturday, the service said it had been a white Christmas for parts of the UK as people in Shetland and eastern Scotland woke up to a blanket of snow.