BLINK and you may have missed it - but our pictures show snow falling on Worcester today.

The flurry lasted for a few minutes at around 2pm and, in true changeable April weather style, it was followed almost immediately by bright sunshine.

The erratic weather was predicted with the Met Office saying sleet or snow was possible, along with hail and thunder.

The drop in temperatures and cold chill in the air was blamed on a strong northerly wind.

It is also expected to be cold across Worcestershire tonight with the possibility of a widespread frost.

Worcestershire County Council tweeted to say its gritters were on standby.

@WorcsTravel said: "Road temps falling close to zero later - we'll be watching closely, ready if required - A456 #Rock area most likely coldest #GritterTwitter."

Weather man Frank Hill, from Malvern, said: "We've had a fairly heavy hail shower here for a few minutes too.

"It's staying cold for a couple of days.

"We may get one or two more showers and quite a high risk of frost tonight particularly on the lower ground.

"This cold spell is only likely to last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as it's based on the northerly winds and gradually a cloudier system will work its way in from the North West and it will get rather less cold."

He added: "It's quite common in fact at this time of year.

"April is one of those months where if you get a northerly wind, the sea temperatures are still very cold and there's plenty of Arctic ice so the northerly wind is still cold enough to give us snow and hail showers."

Although today's snow was in marked contrast to the recent sunny weather we've enjoyed this April, Mr Hill said temperatures would be milder by the weekend, although there is a risk of rain on Sunday.