The Met Office has issued snow and rain warnings for Cumbria.
Running from 2pm tomorrow until 4pm on Thursday, the weather forecaster said: “Spells of snow are expected to develop Wednesday late afternoon and early evening, mainly in areas above 100 to 200 meters.
“Later on Wednesday evening and during Thursday early hours this snow will then turn to rain as milder weather conditions spread across the British Isles. Meanwhile, below 100 to 200 m, snow may fall briefly during the late afternoon and early evening before turning to rain.
“Snow accumulations will be mainly in areas above 200 to 300 m with several centimetres of snow falling in some places, especially in Scotland, and above 400 meters more than 10cm of snow is possible in places.”
The snow is due both Wednesday and Thursday, with yellow rain warnings in place for Thursday when the weather turns milder.
The Met Office added: “Rain is expected to set in during Wednesday evening, turning particularly heavy and persistent overnight especially over southwest facing hills. 40-70mm is likely quite widely, with the wettest spots possibly seeing in excess of 100mm of rain.
“The rain will be coupled with generally windy conditions which is likely to further reduce visibility from spray. Conditions will slowly improve through Thursday afternoon.”
The warnings follow snow falling earlier today across the county – causing Whinlatter Forest Park to close due to poor road conditions.
In a post on social media, it said: “Whinlatter is closed this afternoon due to heavy snow. There are reports of very poor road conditions so please avoid travelling over Whinlatter pass. We will update here on Wednesday morning with details of reopening.”
What to expect
- Spray and flooding on roads probably making journey times longer
- Some roads and railways likely to be affected by snow with longer journey times by road, bus and train services
- There is a slight chance that roads may become blocked by deep snow, with many stranded vehicles and passengers
- There is a small chance that communities could be cut off for several days
- There is a small chance that long interruptions to power supplies and other services, such as gas, water, telephone and mobile phone coverage, may occur
