Met Office deliver snow verdict as maps show 500-mile blanket as far south as London

It's (maybe) beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Temperatures this autumn have been unusually high, bringing mild but often damp weather to much of the UK.

As we hit mid-November, the mercury is finally set to drop to chillier temperatures with many weather maps forecasting blanketing snow as far south as London.

The ever-divisive WX Charts show the UK covered with a 500-mile blanket of snow, while many weather apps suggest we could see overnight temperatures as low as 0C next week.

Of course speculation is always rife when snow is on the cards, so the gold-standard Met Office have stepped in to give their verdict.

During his long forecast, Meteorologist Alex Deakin predicted that a frosty weather system from Iceland is expected to hit the UK from Scotland, making its way down through Wales next week.

He warned of "some sleet, some snow, something a bit wintry" in places.

This system will continue to push south.

Alex said: "Through the middle and end of next week, things perhaps get a bit more interesting. There's the potential for a weather system to push its way southwards as the high drifts away towards the west.

"If this happens, we could get some snow on the northern edge of it, which then feeds its way southwards. This means we could see a bit of snow across many places.

"Looking at this chart for Thursday (November 20), even across southern parts of the country, it’s highlighting around a 20% - maybe even greater than 20% - chance of seeing more than 1cm of snow. So, things could turn quite wintry."

Well, there you have it, as far as snow forecasts go, this one is certainly more credible than most.

So, it might just be time to locate those gloves and scarves and get ready for a stroll in a winter wonderland.