Wintry weather to make brief return with snow, hail and thunderstorms

A person standing next to a trig point on a bare moor lightly dusted in snowGetty Images
Simon King
Lead Weather Presenter

Colder Arctic air makes an unwelcome return to the UK on Wednesday with strong winds and a risk of wintry showers.

While snow is likely over the mountains, there could be some down at lower levels in northern Scotland.

Other areas could see some heavy showers with thunderstorms and hail between sunny spells.

And the brisk north or northwesterly wind will make it feel particularly chilly over the next few days.

A rough sea where large waves are crashing into a headland sending splashes of water high into the airBBC Weather Watchers / Bandy Snaps

Strengthening north-westerly winds whipped up the sea on the Highland coast on Tuesday

On Wednesday, the UK will be dominated by cold and brisk north to north-west winds, especially in south-west England where gusts could reach 60mph (97km/h).

While there will be sunny intervals, there will also be scattered showers, most frequently in northern Scotland, north-west England and north-west Wales.

With the colder air, the showers will be occasionally be wintry in nature with hail and thunder for some.

Temperatures will remain below average, with highs of 5-10C nationwide. But the strong wind will add a wind chill, making it feel more like freezing to 5C across the UK.

You can check the "feels like" temperature for your location on the BBC app or website by clicking on any hour of the day where more details appear.

Wednesday night will turn quite chilly with a widespread frost expected across eastern Scotland and north-east England.

A screenshot of the BBC Weather website showing the forecast in Belfast for the next seven days. One day is highlighted showing the hourly forecast with more details expanded showing humidity, pressure, visibility and temperature feels like. In the example, the air temperature at 12pm is 7C with a feels like temperature of 2C

By clicking on certain hour in the forecast on the BBC Weather website or app will open up more details including the "feels like" temperature. In this example, while the air temperature in Belfast will be 7C at 12:00 GMT on Wednesday, it will feel like 2C

Will it stay cold?

By Thursday, the strong north-westerly wind bringing the colder Arctic air will make a switch to a less cold west or south-westerly wind.

After the chilly start, there will be lots of sunshine and with lighter winds, it will not feel as cold as Wednesday.

Temperatures will then start to recover slightly on Friday with highs of 7-13C, closer to the average for late March.

The weather will stay unsettled for the end of the week into the weekend with some showers at times, turning a bit wintry again on Saturday in Scotland.

More persistent rain and stronger winds are likely to move in from the west on Sunday.

Sunday will also be the day our clocks will "spring forward" taking us onto British Summer Time (BST).

While we "lose an hour in bed" in the morning, we "gain" another hour of daylight at the end of the day with sunset occurring around 19:30 to 20:00 BST, dependent on where you are in the UK.

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