Will the US storm front impact on Scotland and the UK? What is the forecast for Hogmanay?

A few flakes of snow fell in Scotland on December 25, meaning the country has ‘technically’ had a white Christmas this year.

The Met Office recorded either sleet or snow falling at three weather stations on Sunday – in Edinburgh, Loch Glascarnoch in Wester Ross and Altnaharra in Sutherland.

And I can personally confirm a wee flurry at another location in Wester Ross, shortly before the clock struck midnight.

Meanwhile, our trans-Atlantic neighbours in Canada and the US have been battered by a severe Arctic freeze that has already claimed dozens of lives.

States across northern America have been blasted by high winds, heavy snow and icy temperatures plunging down to -45C over the past few days as a result of a ‘bomb cyclone’ – a winter storm that occurs when atmospheric pressure plummets.

Luckily, though we are due to have a further dusting of the white stuff today, we are not expecting anything close to that kind of action here in coming days.

“Neither Scotland or elsewhere in the UK is expected to see temperatures anywhere near as low as those currently being experienced across a wide swathe of North America,” according to Met Office forecaster Tom Morgan.

In fact, he says overall temperatures, with the exception of “brief incursions” of colder air in northern Scotland, will be around, or slightly above, average for late December.

Millions of people hunkered down on Christmas Day to ride out a deadly frigid storm - dubbed a 'bomb cyclone' - that has been pummeling north America in recent days, killing at least 48 people people across the United States

It’s not yet clear how 2020 will go out and 2023 will come in, but chances are it could be a bit wild. The forecast for Hogmanay is “still rather uncertain”, he says, but “it’s likely to be changeable with a chance of strong winds and rain”.

Although the cold wave across the pond will not spread to Scotland and the UK, it does affect our weather system.

“As the very cold air meets much warmer Atlantic air, this will create a greater temperature contrast than normal and help to strengthen the jet stream and drive it across the north Atlantic ocean and then across the UK,” the meteorologist explains.

“This is why the UK’s weather will turn very unsettled this week, with deep areas of low pressure and possibly some very windy conditions at times.”