WATCH out – winter’s on its way!

That was the warning today from Huddersfield weather expert Paul Stevens, who is forecasting a return to bitterly cold nights and snow in the coming days.

Mr Stevens, a meteorologist from Salendine Nook, expects several days of Siberian weather in the week ahead.

And he said it will come as quite a shock after the mild weather of recent days.

Some snow fell on the tops of the Pennines on Wednesday but that came from the west and the weather over the next few days will be from the east and much colder.

“Back in November, we were talking about colder conditions to develop in the last week of January and to last through into February.

“Finally, after weeks of battling with this scenario, the weather prediction models now seem to be resolving this issue.

“Through the weekend and more especially later next week, it looks as though winter will finally begin.

“After months of wet and mild weather with winds coming from the Atlantic, it looks as though we need to look east and the continent for our weather.

“High pressure which has been building in Siberia has finally managed to move west into Scandinavia and easterly winds will develop next week.

“It will be quite a shock to the system. Temperatures will start to drop below normal with perhaps sub-zero conditions day and night possible at times.

“With the battleground being over the UK, there may well be some snow for us to deal with as well. It has to be stressed the detail will be difficult and these patterns of weather are notorious to forecast and get right but it seems clear that ‘hat and gloves’ need to be at the ready, and maybe the snow shovels.’’

Mr Stevens said it was difficult to predict how long the colder weather would last.