THE Met Office has warned people not to be lulled into a false sense of security by the warmer weather - as temperatures are set to plummet in the coming days.

The forecasting agency has even said a long spell of colder weather could see snow in Worcestershire next week.

The Met Office says it has recorded a sudden rise in temperatures at the North Pole, which usually triggers a phenomenon known as a polar vortex that leads to a cold weather spell.

Professor Adam Scaife, of the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: “Signs of this event appeared in forecasts from late January and in the last few days we have seen a dramatic rise in air temperature, known as a Sudden Stratospheric Warming, at around 30km above the North Pole.

"This warming results from a breakdown of the usual high-altitude westerly winds and it often leads to a switch in our weather, with cold easterly conditions more likely to dominate subsequent UK weather.”

Met Office computer simulations is predicting snow across the UK in late February as a direct result of the events at the North Pole.

Frank Saunders, chief operational meteorologist at the Met Office, added: “The outcome for the UK’s weather is still uncertain, but forecasts from computer models at the Met Office and at other centres are beginning to coalesce around a greater likelihood of cold conditions in the days and weeks to come.”

Forecasters are predicting temperatures to begin dropping below freezing in the county from Thursday, reaching as low as -3C over the weekend and into next week.

Snow showers are currently forecast for Worcestershire for the middle of next week.