Weather warnings are in place across the UK as temperatures plunged below freezing overnight.
Snow hit parts of London on Friday and the icy conditions are forecast to continue throughout the weekend. It comes after temperatures plunged to their lowest since March.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings through Saturday morning for the northern coast and southwest of Scotland, as well as southwest and the eastern coast of England.
Conditions could affect some roads and railways, forecasters said, and slippery surfaces would increase the risk of injury for pedestrians and cyclists.
The mercury approached minus 10C in some places overnight, with Tulloch Bridge and Eskdalemuir in Scotland reaching minus 8C.
Temperatures are tipped to continue to fall over the weekend, with several sporting events cancelled amid snowfall and icy conditions.
Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said it will be minus 3C or minus 4C for many towns and cities on Saturday.
There would be “snow showers” across southwestern Scotland mainly falling over the high ground and lower level areas in the Lake District, Ms Shuttleworth said.
“Elsewhere, though we’ll see the mist and fog slowly clear, it could remain quite murky for a lot of the morning across central and eastern areas,” she said.
“The best sunshine will be across northern areas of Scotland, but further south and west, you can see things starting to change a little bit (by Saturday afternoon) with a greater risk of some showers.”
She said as winds shifted to more south-westerly, temperatures would slowly rise, feeling a little less cold in the southwest.
“Elsewhere, though still feeling bitterly cold, not much above freezing,” she added.
“Those showers in the southwest then do push further inland throughout Saturday night, and as they bump into the colder air, they could bring some snow to parts of Wales and central areas such as the Peak District, for example.”
Snowfall in London
The first sightings of snowflakes were reported at 11am Friday across the capital, from West Hampstead to the City of London.
Marco Petagna, a senior meteorologist at the Met Office, said temperatures in Cumbria were the coldest on record nationwide since March.
“The recorded -9.4C in Cumbria was the coldest temperature since March 15, when -9.9C was recorded in Tyndrum, Scotland,” he said on Friday.
“Last time there was ‘lying snow’ in the South West was Nov 14 2019, and in Cornwall this was back in November 2010.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/01/uk-weather-news-latest-snow-ice-live/
