Easter snow brings cold start to April.
BRITAIN is on widespread flood alert with torrential rainfall today threatening Easter holiday chaos amid warnings heavy snow could coat the UK. Government officials have issued a raft of warnings for heavy downpours through the day and into the working week.
Almost a month’s rain is forecast in parts of southern England with colder conditions further north facing more wintry conditions and even snow.
Met Office warnings for snow are in force across northern and central regions with separate alerts for rain in the south.
The Environment Agency (EA) yesterday issued 110 flood alerts and eight more serious “immediate action” warnings ahead of the deluge.
People in the most at-risk regions are warned to brace for near non-stop downpours and travel problems through tomorrow.
An Environment Agency spokesman said: “Widespread flooding is possible across parts of southern and central England and Wales later Sunday and on Monday due to heavy and persistent rain. This could lead to flooding of properties and widespread travel disruption.
“On Tuesday further localised flooding is probable.”
A low-pressure system due to sweep in from the Atlantic will dump up to three inches of rain in parts tomorrow.
As it moves upcountry showers will turn wintry bringing up to four inches of snow over high ground in Scotland and the north.
Unsettled conditions will persist into the middle of next week when there are signs spring sunshine will finally arrive.
Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said: “We have a system pushing in from the southwest late on Sunday and into Monday bringing a lot of rain across southern counties.
“We could see 40 to 60mm of rain fall in parts with 70mm [2.7 inches] possible across the moors of the southwest.
“As this system pushes northwards it is going to give some snow and we could see 10 centimetres [four inches] over high ground, there could be wintry showers to lower levels earlier in the day.
