Holidaymakers could face disruption later this week as snow threatens to ground flights at Gatwick.

The airport is forecast to be coated by snowfall early on Wednesday morning, which could cause delays or cancellations to flights.

An Arctic air front meeting another front pushing north from the Atlantic could cause a band of “heavy and significant snow” across southern England later this week, which could cause disruption, BBC forecasters warned.

Snow is expected to fall at Gatwick from 4am to at least 9am, according to the broadcaster.

Wintry showers are also forecast for Brighton, Worthing, Chichester, Horsham and Crawley.

However, there remains some uncertainty over where snow might fall, with another weather model predicting that it could fall further south over the Channel and northern France instead.

BBC weather forecaster Carol Kirkwood said: “We run into a complication in the forecast - Atlantic air is trying to come in across the UK, but the Arctic air is also embedded across our shores.

“The positioning of these weather fronts is crucial as to where we get the snow.

“At the moment, we think it will come in over southern areas of England for a time, and then it will revert back to cloud and rain.

“Later, we will see more rain and snow coming in across the South West.

“As we move towards the end of the week, it will turn that little bit milder in the south.”

It is anticipated that temperatures will begin to turn milder later in the week, reaching a high of 11C in Brighton on Friday and Saturday.

However, conditions will remain damp and drizzly, with rain forecast in the latter half of the week.

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It comes as the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice for large parts of Scotland and northern England through until Wednesday.

As much as ten centimetres of snow is expected in some areas, with people urged to drive carefully in the wintry conditions.

The warning area extends from the Hebrides in Scotland to as far south as Hull, with the possibility of travel delays on roads and the chance that rural communities could be cut off due to heavy snow.