Snow is on the way: Weather service issues warning for this week

No, this isn’t the South African Weather Service sending you updates about another 30-degree day in Cape Town while we shiver in London.

This is the real deal: proper British snow is coming, and with it, the inevitable collapse of everything we take for granted.

Amber warning issued for Yorkshire

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for parts of Yorkshire on Thursday, with 25cm of snowfall expected in some areas.

Multiple yellow warnings cover Scotland and northern England from Monday through Thursday, bringing sub-zero temperatures and that delightful combination of snow and ice that makes pavements into ice rinks.

The magic lasts about 20 minutes

For those of us who grew up with reliable sunshine and the occasional Cape storm, British snow remains one of those small pleasures of living here. There’s something magical about watching fat flakes drift past your window. For about 20 minutes.

Then reality hits. Trains stop running. Meetings get cancelled. Nobody comes into the office. The entire country grinds to a halt over what may not even register as newsworthy on Table Mountain.

Of course, for the majority of us expats in and around London, we’ll likely miss out on the snow entirely and just enjoy the cold and rain instead. Classic.

Areas most affected

The forecaster warns this week will be “markedly colder” than last week, with harsh frost and wintry showers expected. Parts of Scotland, northern England, Wales, and Yorkshire are all in the firing line towards the end of the week.

Time to embrace the chaos

The UK Health Security Agency has already issued yellow and amber cold weather alerts, which is British for it’s going to be properly freezing, wear a coat.

So embrace it. Make a snowman. Take ridiculous photos. Better yet, send them to us. We want to see how you’re surviving this week’s snow chaos.

Just don’t expect anything to work properly until it melts.