Snow weather warning: Met Office forecast says temperatures set to plummet once again

The north of England is being warned it could see snow overnight as temperatures plummet once again. The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning covering areas around Manchester, stretching to Newcastle, with the alert in place until 3am.

Experts said roads and railways were "likely to be affected", along with bus and train services, as more stormy weather battered the UK. "Rain moving north across England today is expected to increasingly turn to snow over higher ground through the afternoon and evening," a forecaster said.

"The snow will continue overnight and into Friday morning, although the altitude at which snow settles should steadily rise above that of most major trans-Pennine routes during the early hours of Friday.

"While some sleet or snow is possible to lower levels for a time this evening, accumulating snow is mostly likely above 250m to 300m, with up to 5cm possible. Much of this melting during Friday morning after the warning ends. Some places above 500m may see 5cm to 15cm."

The warning comes after the UK was hit by Storm Chandra last week, with heavy rainfall and resultant flooding still affecting vast parts of the country, particularly in the south west of England.

And it comes as the Met Office confirmed the region, along with south Wales, had seen rain every day of 2026 so far - with more to come. Forecasters said the month of January had been “much wetter” than average, with up to 50% more rainfall than usual.

And three yellow weather warnings are also in place tonight for heavy rain, covering the south west and south coast, into the south east, as well as another for central Wales. The Met Office said “periods of rain and heavy showers are likely to cause surface water flooding in places” in the areas affected.

The rain in January in the south west region was the 12th highest on record, according to Met Office spokesperson, Stephen Dixon. “The south west of England and southern Wales has seen a very wet start to the year, with rain reported somewhere in the region every day of the year so far," he said.

“Having wet weather in winter certainly isn’t uncommon for the area, but what’s notable is how the succession of fronts or low pressure systems from the west from around the middle of January took it from a fairly average month in terms of rainfall amounts to a much wetter than average month, with over 50% more rain than its average for January.”