This week's weather will be mild at the beginning before a cold front brings the risk of snow from Wednesday onwards with temperatures plummeting throughout the country by Friday. Most of the UK will see mild temperatures on Monday and Tuesday with moist Atlantic air moving in on Monday night. The moist air will bring cloud cover and allow mild temperatures for Tuesday.

Commenting on the weather outlook, Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “By the early hours of Wednesday however a cold front starts to move south into Scotland.” He added: “That cold front is a quite lively feature with some heavy rainfall and strong winds along it swell.” Wet weather on Monday will be concentrated in North West, around the Outer Hebrides. Although there will be a touch of frost as clouds break over the South East on Monday night. READ MORE: BBC Weather forecast: Carol Kirkwood predicts temperature drop

Snow to hit the UK by end of the week

Snow to hit high ground

There will be a mild start to Tuesday which will generally be frost free across the country, with temperatures averaging 9 to 11 degrees. Along the cold front, there will be sporadic rain throughout the week, with most of the wet weather remaining in Western Scotland and Northern Ireland through Tuesday and Wednesday, but these areas will see clear skies by Thursday and Friday. By the early hours of Wednesday, the cold front will have over its way across Northern Ireland and Scotland and down into England bringing a couple of hours of heavy rainfall and strong winds. Mr McGivern said: “This cold front will sweep through quite quickly and it helps to clear all the cloud leading to brighter skies on Wednesday afternoon.”

Temperatures to plunge by Friday