THOSE still clinging to the belief that March means the end of winter weather should look away now.

The weekend will see plummeting temperatures and more snow for the North East, according to forecasters.

Temperatures across the region will drop to around zero this evening and will stay low through the rest of the week, a spokesperson for the Met Office said.

A north-easterly wind will bring snowfall to parts of Country Durham today and tomorrow, while Newcastle will be hit by flurries of snow tomorrow and into Monday morning.

During the day on Sunday temperatures will hover at around 1C, with a North Sea wind bringing in light snow showers.

“It will be mainly over the hills, and a temporary covering in the town,” said Met Office worker Helen Chivers.

Disruption to travel will be unlikely but those planning on travelling through the Pennines – where there may be up to 10cm of snow by tomorrow – are advised to stay up to date with road news.

“The cold weather will stay with us all week, but won’t have a lot of snow with it after Monday,” Mrs Chivers said.

She continued: “Monday looks like it will be the coldest day of the week, with a strong north-easterly wind blowing. It will feel very cold. On Wednesday the wind will be blowing from the north and should bring mainly dry weather.

“Temperatures on that day will be around 3C.”

The cold blast was being blown across from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia, Mrs Chivers said.

But she added that the coming winter weather would be nothing compared to the two weeks of almost solid snowfall the region experienced in January and February – which some Twitter users labelled a “snowpocalypse”.

The greatest danger would be freezing temperatures turning rain into ice on the roads, Mrs Chivers said.