New Met Office maps show exactly when first snow will fall in Greater Manchester next week

Greater Manchester is now most likely to see snowfall on Tuesday, according to updated Met Office maps. A cold snap caused by winds from the Arctic is set to sweep over the country, starting this weekend.

Some forecasters have said that it could bring with it the worst snowstorm in 14 years. Whilst the Met Office has been slightly more cautious with its predictions, there are yellow weather warnings for snow and ice in place for parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland from tomorrow.

And parts of the north east and Cumbria will also likely see some dustings on Sunday. However, it is likely to be a couple of days before that makes it way down to our region.

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The Met Office's UK Precipitation Map shows a blanket of white moving in over the region between midnight and 3am in the early hours of Tuesday (January 16).

The city centre and western half of the city and Salford as well as Bolton, Rochdale and Wigan can all be seen covered by snow on the map. By 6am this expands to cover the entire region and areas around it.

The Met Office's detailed forecast say there is a high probability of 'light snow' across the region for several hours between 6am and 9am as temperatures hover below freezing. The more northern areas could see further flurries between 9am and midday.

This is then likely to become sleet and then rain later on in the day as it becomes several degrees warmer. By around mid afternoon it is only the most northern areas of the region, such as Rochdale, which are likely to see any wintry showers as the clouds move north.

Once this has cleared it becomes a much different picture, albeit still cold, with Wednesday set to be cloudy