People ‘caught out’ by snowfall in parts of England and Wales

Snow has fallen in parts of the UK as temperatures plummeted to lows of 2C (35.6F).

Areas in northern England including Manchester, Derbyshire and the Pennines, and parts of northern Wales, saw a brief scattering of snow on Tuesday afternoon.

It came as “unusually” cold air for May moved south across the country, dragging the temperatures down to between 2C and 4C (35.6F-39.2F), according to the Met Office.

The Champions League semi-final clash between Manchester City and PSG at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening was affected by the conditions, with ground staff working ahead of the game to clear snow and hailstones from the pitch.

The mercury could even dip below freezing in southern and central parts of England overnight, with more rain expected around the UK along with a chance of wintry showers in northern Scotland.

Simon Partridge, a Met Office forecaster, told the PA news agency: “There’s been a little bit of snow around in areas of northern and central England and northern Wales this evening, it’s been mainly wet, sleety downpours.

“Some of it could stick around on the ground for the next few days but in areas such as Manchester it’s rather warm underground so it should fizzle out by midnight.

“It’s obviously not the most common occurrence for this time of year but it does happen and it certainly caught some people out.

“Those driving near to Snowdonia and other areas of high ground should certainly keep an eye out and be careful on the roads.”

Snow
The snowfall began on Tuesday afternoon (Lisa Edwards/Twitter)

Mr Partridge said the average temperature for May is around 16C (60.8F) in England.

He added that the snow occurred due to a band of showery rain spreading across central England from Liverpool to East Anglia.

Up to 1cm of snow was seen in affected areas, he said.

It comes ahead of a cold night for those living in the north of England and parts of Scotland, where the mercury could fall below freezing by early Wednesday.

Manchester City v Paris Saint-Germain – UEFA Champions League – Semi Final – Second Leg – Etihad Stadium
The wintry conditions meant extra work for ground staff at the Etihad Stadium (Martin Rickett/PA)

A spokeswoman for the Met Office said: “We are likely to see some frosts overnight, quite widespread, so away from towns and cities, even for central and some southern areas there could be some localised frosts with temperatures dipping below freezing.

“If you are in London, then you are looking at three, four or five degrees overnight, but if you are out in rural areas, you may well see those temperatures dip, particularly for central and northern areas.”

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