UK weather maps show days snow falls as far south as London and Dorset

The UK is bracing for a very chilly start to 2025 as the country braces for a wall of snow that extends as far down south as London.

Though the chances of a white Christmas are looking unlikely for most people unless you live in the Scottish Highlands, a white new year appears to be on the cards.

New maps have revealed that the period from January 2-3 is due to bring dustings stretching from the north of Scotland right down to the south of England.

By 12pm on January 2, a large portion of Scotland will have been swept with snow, ranging from 5cm in the Highlands to just 1cm in Edinburgh.

Surprisingly, most of the north of England will escape the snow, affecting only Newcastle and Northumberland with low levels of roughly 1cm.

The chance of seeing snow on the second day of 2025 increases in Wales, the Midlands and further south. The Midlands will see snow depths between 1-4cm, while Wales can expect as much as 6cm.

In the south of England, the worst-affected areas are expected to be Berkshire and Wiltshire, where dustings will accumulate to 4-6cm.

January 3 will see the same areas affected, though the amount of snow will start slowly decreasing as it eases off throughout the week.

The temperature is also expected to drop in areas coinciding with the snow, plummeting to as low as -8C in south Wales on January 2 and -9C in Hampshire on January 3.

The Met Office long range forecast for December 27 until January 5 states that this period will be characterised by “mild, cloudy conditions for most” with some drizzle in places and more persistent rain across northwest Scotland.

It said: “Many other areas are predominantly dry but rather cloudy, with the best cloud breaks likely to be found across parts of eastern Scotland and Northeastern England.

“Around the turn of the year, it looks more probable that colder, more showery conditions will likely make at least some ingress into northern and perhaps central areas, bringing a risk of some impacts from ice, sleet and snow.”

The prediction added: “Widely mild at first, perhaps exceptionally so in some places, but temperatures probably return to nearer normal by early January. Throughout, any clearer spells overnight may lead to localised frost and fog.”