Temperatures are about to drop suddenly overnight - but the Met Office says predicted heavy snowfall this weekend will not reach Devon.

Temperatures are about to drop suddenly and there will be overnight frosts, but the unsettled weather and rain will not develop into snow in Devon, as had been previously expected.

Meteorologist Becky Mitchell at the Exeter Met Office said: "There will be snow this weekend over Scotland but there is some uncertainty over how far south it's going to come - but no we don't think there will be any snow in Devon.

"It is going to get colder over the next few days. But when the rain arrives in Devon it will stay as rain, not snow, even over the Moors.

"There could be some snow further south in the east of the country but in Devon its just too mild.

Could we see snow this winter?

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"There could still be frosts over the next few days. Today in Devon our top temperatures are still double figures which is around average for the time of year. But they will be dropping from tomorrow and we could get down to -4 or -5 degrees overnight but there is nothing in the long range forecast for snow at the moment."

The arctic low pressure moving across the country will bring as much as 10cm (4 inches) or more snow in places such as the Caingorms in Scotland.

However fans of snow will be glad to hear that the weather conditions which brought the Beast from the East may be repeated again in the New Year.

The Met Office in Exeter is keeping an eye on the possibility of another Sudden Stratospheric Warming event, which could create another Polar vortex and bring a heavy snowfall.

Last year's Beast from the East was accurately forecast well ahead of the bad weather by the Met Office.

Watch the Met Office weather forecast for Tuesday below

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But Becky said that it was still too soon to say if Devon will face a similar massive weather event this year: "With the Beast from the East is was a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event and you can see when that causes the Polar vortex to split in two.

"At the moment we've not had that Sudden Stratospheric event but there are signs that it could potentially happen again. If it does happen there's a couple of weeks delay before.

"So we are keeping an eye on it."