Weather warning: Harrogate could see first snow of the year with wintry showers forecast Monday morning

A Yellow Warning has been announced for much of central and northern England as the recent wet and mild spell comes to a shuddering halt with snow and ice expected from Sunday evening.

In addition to the Met Office warning, The Weather Channel has also predicted there could be ‘a mix of rain and snow showers tonight’ with the snow likely across higher parts of Harrogate in the early hours of Monday morning between 3am and 5am.

Harrogate has yet to see any snow in 2023, having experienced three major falls of the white stuff in the early part of 2022.

The full Met Office warning comes into force on Sunday, January 15 at 6pm and lasts until 10am on Monday, January 16, meaning it could be a tricky commute into work tomorrow.

It reads: “Wintry showers are expected to develop across Northern Ireland, Wales and western England during Sunday afternoon and evening, extending east across southern Scotland and the remainder of northern and central England.

Online maps show live locations and routes of gritters in the Harrogate District and across North Yorkshire

“Clearing skies later in the night are expected to lead to ice developing on untreated surfaces. Showers will mainly fall as rain at low levels but could turn to snow in heavier or more prolonged showers resulting in 2-5 cm accumulating in places. The icy surfaces are expected to develop following wintry showers leading to some difficult travelling conditions.”

National Highways has already announced plans for its fleet of gritters to patrol and treat the region’s streets in preparation for what is expected to be the first true cold snap of the new year.

Darren Clark, Severe Weather Resilience Manager, at National Highways said: “We would ask all road users to take extra care when driving when our gritters are out on our road.

“Whilst gritters travel up to 50mph when spreading road users need to be aware of the road and traffic ahead of them. We have had an incident this winter where the rear of a gritter was hit. We ask all road users to give our staff time and space to do their job safely.”