![Snow is more likely at Easter than during Christmas (Image: PA)](/upload/news/2024/03/07/170446.jpg)
Brits fed up with cold weather have been warned it's “more likely” to snow this Easter than it is at Christmas time.
After a week in which the country was battered by wind and rain it perhaps does not feel like meteorological spring has arrived. Weather maps have shown yet more rain moving in from southern England up until next weekend, with the heaviest downpours expected on Sunday, March 17. A 450-mile rain bomb will continue the following week, with low temperatures and fast winds likely.
However things could be worse as a forecaster showed how it is more likely to snow at Easter than people getting the white Christmas they cherish. Nick Finnis, from netweather, said: “While it turns increasingly mild or warm across SE Europe. But given it will be late March that the blocking looks more likely to develop, the chances for wintry weather will be diminishing.
“Though it can still snow in early April in southern Britain, more especially at night. It is ironically more likely to snow in Easter than Christmas if Easter falls in late March. But snow tends not to hang around as it quickly melts during the day away from higher ground in the north.”
Today's Met Office weather forecast says: "Rather cloudy across some eastern and northeastern areas with patchy rain. Any early fog and frost clearing elsewhere to leave sunny spells, though some showers developing, mainly across parts of southern England and Wales. Rather breezy.
"[Tonight] becoming rather cloudy in the north with patchy rain. Showers dying out elsewhere to leave a mostly dry night with clear spells. Breezy, with patchy frost and some hill fog."
Earlier this week, nearly were issued after the country was , threatening several rivers to burst their banks. Heavy rainfall pelted the country on Tuesday morning, causing havoc on roads and the railways system, with disruption expected until this afternoon.
February was the hottest on record in and , according to provisional statistics, in what was a mild and wet month for many. The average temperature in England for February 2024 was 7.5C, topping the previous record of 7.0C set in 1990. Wales saw an average mean temperature at 6.9C for the month, marginally ahead of 1998’s record of 6.8C.
Met Office Senior Scientist Mike Kendon said: “February has perhaps been the quietest month of the winter, without any further named storms, whereas Gerrit in December and Henk and Isha in January all caused significant weather impacts.
“Despite a cold spell in the north in the first half of the month, the main theme of February is how persistently mild and wet it has been, particularly in the south and this is largely due to the influence of Atlantic low-pressure systems bringing a predominant mild, south-westerly flow. This mild, wet theme is also true of winter overall.”
East Anglia had both its warmest and wettest February on record. The county experienced 106.4mm of rainfall across the month and had a mean temperature of 8.2C. England recorded its fourth wettest February on record although February 2020 was much wetter.