Snow expected in Scotland as tailend of Hurricane Lorenzo to hit UK

Temperatures in Scotland are set to plummet this week, with snow expected in parts of the country.

After a weekend of heavy rain for areas of England, the mercury north of the border is tipped to fall to -2C in high regions on Tuesday.

Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze told The Mirror: “It could be cold enough for snow on Tuesday over high ground in Scotland, with a risk of frost in sheltered areas.”

It comes as the southwest of the UK braces itself for gales of up to 80mph as the tailend of Hurricane Lorenzo lashes British shores.

On the weekend Lorenzo weakened to Category 3 force in the central Atlantic Ocean as it headed towards Europe after several hours as a Category 5 - which made it the strongest storm ever observed so far north and east in the Atlantic basin.

The US Hurricane Center said that the storm had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph) during the night.

The snowy peaks of Glencoe. Snow is expected in high areas of Scotland this week.

Lorenzo was moving north-northeast at 10 mph (17 kph) and was centered about 1,195 miles (1,920 kilometers) west-southwest of the Azores, a Portuguese island chain.

Portuguese authorities issued a hurricane watch for the central and western Azores and a tropical storm watch for the eastern Azores.

Forecasters said the storm was expected to remain large and powerful as it neared the Azores over the next few days, but added that it now appeared Lorenzo would eventually stall as a tropical storm west of Ireland.

Meanwhile, parts of England and Wales are due to get another drenching on Monday.

Forecasters warn that up to 70mm of rain could fall over the highest parts of the country on Sunday - on top of land that is already saturated.

The Environment Agency currently has 28 localised flood warnings in place for England in counties including Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Sussex and Lincolnshire.

There are two warnings in place in Monmouthshire in Wales plus 175 alerts for possible flooding across the country.Alex Burkill, a meteorologist with the Met Office, said: "Today we've got the heaviest rain across northern England and it's pushing its way eastward.

"In the rest of England and Wales there are showery outbreaks but we've probably seen the worst of the rain for these parts.

"We could see a further 30mm to 40mm over the highest ground in northern England as we go through the rest of the day.

"We've already seen some fairly significant rainfall and there will be further persistent rain through northern and central England and further showery outbreaks in Wales."Mr Burkill added: "Monday will be another very wet one for England and Wales but for Scotland and Northern Ireland, they are going to have another fairly dry day, just a few showers and some bright spells."