Widespread rain and even patches of snow come amid the anticipated ‘wet and very windy’ build up to Christmas (Picture: Richard Baker)

Forecasters are anticipating another wet and windy day with some patches of snow even expected across the north of the country. 

Having enjoyed a mild night, England and Wales will experience some initial spells of rain that will gradually clear southeastwards ahead of a dry and bright afternoon. 

Scotland and Northern Ireland meanwhile will see sunshine between scattered blustery showers, with parts of the north of England braced for snow. 

The winds will continue across the country into Wednesday, with severe gales possible when the rains return on Thursday and Friday. 

Meteorologist Aidan McGivern said yesterday it would be the turn of the south to ‘see the rain move in’ after showers over northern parts in the past few days.

He added: ‘High pressure has led to quite a strong westerly breeze, but as it moves away, we’re going to see the wind switch to north-westerly. 

‘Already this is pushing a band of quite squally weather across Scotland and Northern Ireland through [Monday] evening, into northern England later, a short spell of hail and gusty winds before eventually that merges with a larger area of rainfall that’s going to pop up across the central and southern UK during the night time.

‘That rain becoming widespread, heavy at times, especially over western hills, and certainly quite persistent through the early hours of Tuesday.

‘But further north, we’ve got the north westerlies bringing colder air and quite a number of showers across northern and western Scotland, perhaps the odd one for Northern Ireland as well.’

Temperatures are expected to sit around the mid-single figures for the north of the country, creeping up to around 10 in London and even 11 at times in Portsmouth.