Brits have been warned to expect heavy downpours before snow flurries drape the north.
Most areas across the UK are predicted to see showers but some regions such as the Scottish Highlands will see the first snowfall of the season in just days as temperatures plunge.
Forecasters predict that a band of rain will move across the South West from Wednesday.
Looking to the rest of the week, maps from WXCharts predict flurries of snow will fall across parts of Scotland, in an area between Fort William and further north towards Inverness, early next Saturday morning.
According to the forecast, snow will fall from about midnight on Friday and continue into the following week.
Elsewhere, the weather will turn to spells of sunshine for many parts before heavy rain and strong winds push in to the weekend.
For the rest of the UK, the Met Office predicts heavy rain. The weather agency added that much of next week will be dominated by “changeable” wet and windy weather.
Alex Deakin in the Met Office's 10 Day Trend said: “What we look to be left with through next week is a similar pattern to what we’ve got now, with low pressure systems mostly to the north and areas of high pressure to the south and a reasonably active jet stream pushing everything along.”
While most Brits won’t see snowfall this month, early predictions suggest this winter will be particularly cold.
In addition, a rare “long La Nina” weather phenomenon, which brings large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures, could lead to snow flurries next month.
La Nina marks an extreme cooling of sea waters around the coast of South America, and can affect global weather patterns. It is the counterpart of El Nino—a warming of South American coastal waters—and can weaken the UK winter storm season, driving dry and settled conditions.
La Nina happens when strong trade winds–the easterly prevailing winds in the tropics–pull Pacific sea water towards Indonesia. This causes cooler water to pool off the coast of South America, helped by the strong currents off the Peruvian coast.
UK Weather forecast
Today:
Fine and dry with sunny spells for most areas, particularly central and southern England. Cloudier over western and northwestern parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland where some rain at times. Turning windier in the northwest.
Tonight:
Chilly in south and southeast with clear spells but clouding over from the west later. Rain and stronger winds in the northwest moving into north Wales and northwest England later.
Wednesday:
Rain parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland, northern England and north Wales moving gradually southeast. Mostly fine southeast England with some sunny spells. Cooler with a few showers arriving into northwest.
Outlook for Thursday to Saturday:
Unsettled with rain from the west, turning to a mix of sunshine and showers, these heaviest and most frequent in the north and west, where it will be windy too.
