The next few days will come as a shock for many, after a relatively mild and frost-free Autumn. As low pressure pulls away into the North Sea, we're going to see an icy northerly wind blasting down across the UK. For many, this will translate into overnight frosts and crisp mornings with plenty of blue skies and sunshine. But for some, we'll see some of the first snowfall of the 2004-2005 winter.

In typical northerly airflows, cold air flowing across relatively warm seas creates vast instability, just right for breeding lots of showers. Once these showers reach land however, they tend to die away as they lose the energy required from the sea-air temperature difference. Areas most at risk from these showers are therefore coastal regions which face into the northerly wind, and in the UK this includes much of the east coast of England, northern and eastern coasts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and also the north coast of Wales. With air temperatures being so cold, many of these showers become wintry and fall as snow.

During Thursday, the first signs of these snow showers will make their presence felt across much of northern and eastern Scotland, with several centimetres of snow falling over the hills, and even slight accumulations at lower levels. However, England and Wales will still be in the mild air, with lots of rain around. There is the potential for some of this rain to turn to snow over the hills of northern England and north Wales later though, as the cold air digs southwards on Thursday night.

As for the wintry outlook? Expect a hard and widespread frost during Thursday and Friday night across most of the country, with lots of sleet and snow showers across Scotland and north-east England. Hail and sleet showers will also affect north Wales for a time on Friday, and by this time many eastern parts of Scotland may see a blanket of white! Complications arise on Saturday as warmer air and rain moves back in from the south-west. This may briefly turn to snow as it crosses northern England and Scotland, but detail on this is currently rather uncertain. We'll update this feature daily with reports from the day, and also where we expect snowfall to occur in the short-term.