UK weather: New maps show Britain to be hit with 54 hours of non-stop snow as three areas hit

Snow could be falling across the UK for as long as 54 hours, according to new weather maps.

Projections from WXCharts show wintry showers beginning in northern England, the Midlands and Scotland

at around 6am on Wednesday 3 April, with as much as 10cm per hour falling in the hardest-hit areas. Snow will then continue on higher ground in Scotland on Thursday, carrying through until Friday evening. England, Wales and Northern Ireland will meanwhile see a prolonged spell of rain, with torrential downpours in some areas.

The chilly outlook comes as the nation endures a cold and wet end to March after previously enjoying several days of mild weather. After snow fell in some areas of the southwest and Scotland on Thursday Exacta Weather's James Madden has highlighted the likelihood of wintry weather well into April, despite the arrival of spring.

He said: "In addition to the recent snow events, we are now also still seeing some high-confidence signals and multiple model runs for something more memorable and significant to develop in terms of widespread snow prospects and even harsher Arctic cold from as early as next week and on multiple occasions during the first half of April, as we have been repeatedly covering and insisting upon of late."

"The snow of last week and this week to date across Scotland and southern England/Wales is just a gentle reminder that winter weather is still more than possible at this time of the year, and the coming weeks will also prove this further as some more enhanced than before wintry blasts and low-level snow or multiple overnight countrywide snow events persist into the first half of April at the very least."

Some forecasters had tipped a major blast of snow to arrive as early as this weekend - but the Met Office have now said this is unlikely. Ollie Claydon, spokesperson for the weather service, told the Mirror : "No snow is forecast now. There was a bit in the Southwest of England and higher ground in Scotland but now the forecast looks wet and windy, with a low pressure moving in from the west.

"So there will be rain and it will be thundery at times, possibly some hail, but rain is the picture more than anything else. There will be some strong gusts too, especially along the south coast. A weather warning is in place for the south coast throughout today and gusts there could reach 70mph."