A cold snap has well and truly arrived across the UK, and apparently, there’s even a “possibility of snow” before the week’s out too.
With December just a few days away now, it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, as far as the weather is concerned, as the temperatures have plummeted over the last few days, and these cold conditions are only set to continue as the week goes on.
In case you hadn’t heard, the UKHSA has already issued a yellow cold-health alert for the health sector covering northern regions of England – including Greater Manchester.
This alert is now in place, and remains throughout the whole week.
But do we have a ‘white December’ (if that’s even a ‘thing’) in store? And what are the chances of snow actually falling across our region this week? The Met Office has now given an update on what we can expect.
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Conditions across the UK are forecast to turn colder with the prospect of snow for later in the week.
According to the Met Office, we’ll all probably need to wrap up warm for the foreseeable, as colder air is feeding in from the north across many parts of the UK over the next few days, and this is bringing with it the potential for wintry showers in some North Sea coastal areas, as well as some inland parts of northern Britain too.
“After some rain on Monday, conditions will turn mainly dry for a time, before a very uncertain period on Thursday and Friday,” explained David Oliver, who is the Met Office’s Deputy Chief Meteorologist.
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He then added: “The weather models are highlighting several possible solutions, from very wet to mainly dry, with a mainly dry picture the most probable outcome at present.”
How likely is snow this week?
The wintery conditions may also bring “some snow and ice impacts” along with them, and then towards the end of the week and over the weekend, there’s “a possibility of snow” too, according to the Met Office – but weather forecasters say this is “far from certain”.
Going on to give an insight on the probability of snow, Mr Oliver then said: “Snow in any affected area is unlikely to be anything more than transient and short-lived,
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“But it could lead to small totals and some disruption over a few hours before melting.”
Met Office gives update on ‘possibility of snow’ as cold snap hits UK this weeks / Credit: Geograph | Pexels
Is snow in early December common?
It’s probably not that hard to believe, but snowfall in late autumn or early winter is becoming increasingly less common nowadays, and according to the Met Office, it “doesn’t generally linger” when it does occur too.
Meteorologists say this is because ground temperatures remain relatively high after the warmer summer months, especially compared with values in late winter after the ground loses more of its warmth.
Manchester City announced signing of top Premier League defender Marc Guehi
Danny Jones
It looks like they’ve finally got a done deal: Manchester City have finally announced the transfer of highly sought-after defender Marc Guehi.
Man City reached an agreement with Crystal Palace to sign the increasingly established Three Lions star after emerging as a suitor in recent weeks.
Pep Guardiola’s pursuit of the impressive Premier League centre-back ramped up earlier this month, as it became apparent that they were hoping to hijack Liverpool’s prospective move for Guehi.
The Ivory Coast-born England international looked all set to arrive at Anfield back in the summer, but the deal never materialised, and now rivals City have sealed his signature instead.
Finally confirmed and fully announced on Monday, 19 January, Palace and Man City are said to have reached an agreement in principle for a base fee of approximately £20 million.
However, rumoured add-ons are thought take that total closer to £30m; either way, it’s fair to say that it’s an absolute bargain for a player of his quality.
On the other hand, the acquisition will also see Man City’s total spending reach roughly half a billion pounds over the past year alone. Staggering sums for any sporting outfit.
Not that his former London team will mind one bit, of course, as it became increasingly clear that Guehi would be leaving eventually; manager Oliver Glasner – who also seems set to depart at the end of his contract – even addressed the sale ahead of completion in a recent press conference.
Guehi will wear the number 15 shirt for Man City and has penned a deal until 2031.
With Man City currently facing multiple absences, particularly in their backline with both Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias out injured, Guehi’s arrival is no doubt a welcome one.
Although many debated whether or not Pep needed to sign another centre-half, especially with two promising youth players returning from loan, supporters will nevertheless be glad to have snatched him from the clutches of Liverpool.
Over in the women’s team, they’ve also brought in a new member of the squad who could help spur on their title charge.
Can you see any more deals being down befor the end of the window?
New survey reveals half of Mancs have already given up their new year’s resolutions
Emily Sergeant
We’re into our third week of 2026 now, and according to a new survey, half of Mancs have already ditched their new year’s resolutions.
New year’s resolutions are always made with the best intentions, and it’s not like we intentionally set ourselves up to fail with them, but more often than not, that tends to be the case – and now a new survey of 1,000 Brits carried out over the past few weeks has found that 35% of us have already admitted to giving them up.
That percentage rises to a whopping 50% when narrowed down to the people of Greater Manchester.
Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, and Glasgow are the other four major cities joining Manchester in the top five list of people in each area that have stopped their 2026 challenge early.
Half of Mancs have apparently already given up their new year’s resolutions / Credit: PICRYL | Pexels
On the other end of the spectrum, it’s the cities of Southampton, Newcastle, and Edinburgh that are staying strong, with just 25%, 26% and 26% giving their new year’s resolutions up respectively, and some of the other northern cities on the list including Liverpool and Leeds.
According to new research from greetings card marketplace, Thortful, more than half of Brits (53%) expect to give up within the first three months of the year – with the hustle of busy schedules, work commitments, families, and social activities being given as reasons why.
When it comes to the reasons people provided for why they’ve given their resolutions up this year, lack of discipline tops the list at 43%, followed by just being too busy to consider them at 21%, and different mental or physical barriers in third place, as well as a change of personal circumstances and a lack of money also cited.
The majority of people cited a lack of discipline as being the reason they gave up / Credit: Andrea Piacquadio (via Pexels)
Looking forward to next year, it seems many of us want to reframe how we set our new year’s resolutions in the future.
According to the research, 32% of respondents want to ‘improve their existing qualities rather than set an unrealistic challenge’ next time around, and 16% ‘feel like there’s social pressure to change in the new year’, when in reality, they ‘don’t have to’.
Emily Sergeant -
28th November 2023 
