Brits face -4C Arctic plunge in 57 areas as polar vortex triggers Met warning - full list

It seems like on Sunday we were in the midst of an endless barrage of heatwaves, but winter has truly now come for the UK. Brits have already experienced freezing temperatures so far this November, and forecasters are predicting that record breaking cold snaps could be on their way, with the mercury reading as low as -4C this week in parts of the country. Meteorologists are predicting that a worrying sounding polar vortex could cause freezing air from the Arctic to shift over from the North Pole to the UK, bringing with it unseasonably cold temperatures and winds.

The Stratospheric polar vortex is essentially a system of powerful winds that, depending on their strength, keep much of the freezing air in and around the North Pole. When this vortex weakens as it is now, these areas of freezing cold air are dispersed into the wider atmosphere, causing much cooler temperatures in impacted areas. According to forecasters at the Met Office, this current weakening of the polar vortex looks likely to bring "wintry showers, ice or snow, depending on temperatures and moisture".

A statement put out by the Met explained: "When the polar vortex weakens, the picture can become more disrupted. A weaker vortex can be associated with a weaker or more meandering jet stream, allowing large north-south bends to develop in the flow. "This can increase the chance of colder air moving south out of the Arctic, or of high pressure becoming established in places that interrupt the usual westerly pattern. For the UK, that can raise the likelihood of colder, drier spells, particularly if winds turn easterly or northerly."

Weather maps already appear to be showing the impact of the weakening polar vortex, with temperatures expected to drop to -4C (24F) across parts of the country. Meteorologists at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) believe that around 57 counties will see the mercury fall below freezing, something that won't come as welcome news for many Brits struggling to heat their homes in a cost of living crisis. While nobody is totally safe from the big freeze, England is likely to be the worst impacted, with parts seeing readings of -4C on Friday, whilst Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will all be a tad warmer with lows keeping between -1 and -3C.

Here are the 57 counties expected to hit freezing temperatures over the next week: Northumberland Cumbria Durham Yorkshire Lancashire Cheshire Staffordshire Herefordshire Warwickshire Derbyshire Shropshire Worcestershire Gloucestershire Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Derbyshire Northamptonshire Cambridgeshire Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Inverness-shire Nairnshire Morayshire Banffshire Aberdeenshire Angus Perthshire Aryllshire Stirlingshire Dunbarton Lanarkshire West Lothian East Lothian Midlothian Kinross-shire Clackmannanshire Ayrshire Wigtownshire Kirkcudbrightshire Dumfriesshire Peeblesshire Roxburghshire Berwickshire Flintshire Denbighshire Merioneth Montgomeryshire Radnorshire Cardiganshire Carmarthenshire Brecknockshire Monmouthshire Caernarfonshire Fermanagh Tyrone Antrim Down Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said: "At the moment, we've got a warming taking place in the stratosphere.

The polar vortex in the stratosphere is starting to weaken." Mr Petagna added that if winds reverse direction, it would become a "major sudden stratospheric warming" event - potentially the earliest ever recorded. The forecaster said: "For the UK, it does increase the chance of cold weather, normally a few weeks down the line, so sort of deeper into November is when we're more likely to see an influence if it does happen. "It's important to emphasise that there was a major warming event last November, and on that occasion it didn't directly lead to much cold weather in the UK.

It doesn't always happen, it just increases the chance of it occurring."