Scotland braced for huge snowstorm days before Christmas as weather maps paint bleak picture
Scotland is braced for more heavy snow as we get closer to Christmas. Much of the country could be blanketed in the coming days, according to the latest weather maps.
While many of us will be out socialising this weekend after finishing up with work for the festive period, it would be wise to keep an eye on the forecast as a snowstorm may derail your plans.
According to WX Charts' latest weather maps, which use Met Desk data, large parts of Scotland are set to see major flurries on Saturday and Sunday (December 21 and 22), with the worst-hit areas forecasted to have more than 2cm of snow per hour at its peak.
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The snow is predicted to appear in the North-West Highlands and the Great Glen between Fort William and Inverness on Saturday morning. It will grow in size and strength as the day progresses, being joined by a huge snowfront moving in from the Atlantic Ocean.
At its peak on Saturday night - when lots of us will hopefully be having a festive tipple with friends and family - most of Scotland is forecast to see some snow. There are predicted flurries from Shetland and Orkney in the North to Na h-Eileanan an Iar in the West and the Borders in the South of the country.
The Borders and the Great Glen are expected to be the worst hit at that time, with heavy snow also likely to be seen from Glasgow west along the River Clyde. Most of Western Scotland is predicted to see snow, along with much of the south of the country, and virtually all of the Highlands.
The East Coast is the least affected across the weekend, according to WX Charts, with Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee seeming like they may avoid snowfall. The weatherfront will continue through Sunday but will ease off as it shrinks and drifts back Westwards. By that evening, only the North-West Highlands are expecting any flurries.
Those dreaming of a White Christmas may be in for a treat this year since, although WX Charts don't foresee any more heavy snow between the weekend and the big day on Wednesday, Exacta Weather believe there may be another blanketing next week - but there are no guarantees just yet.
As reported by Birmingham Live, Exacta's James Madden said: "The upcoming week will bring a very MIXED theme of weather for many parts of the country with further grey skies and COOL to COLD weather among some potential brighter and LESS COLD spells and WINDY to potentially VERY WINDY conditions for many at times.
“Additionally, it WILL also be COLD enough for any PRECIPITATION to turn to SNOW during this period... from some EXPECTED low-pressure features that will also make it quite WINDY for many.
"Some wintry and snow showers in western areas by the weekend. Some of the latest third-party model runs and the GFS are now showing the possibility of some sporadic wintry and snow showers in some western parts of the UK and Scotland from around Friday of this week and into this weekend.
"However, they and my own shorter-range weather projections are still not in any kind of recognition for a snowy period to develop immediately after this, and if we do see any changes to this within the models for later next week, then they will come about and become more of a feature within the next 2-4 days for later next week.
"However, moving away from this period and to our next, now quite high-confidence, potentially snowy and stormy period will actually come in and around our expected dates of December 23-27 and match our much earlier several-month-ahead subscribers' winter forecast for this on these exact dates.
"Additionally, there are also good indicators for this to occur within my own and other main third-party model projections for these same dates."
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