Snow has swept into northern England from Scotland overnight, with many areas waking up to blanketed roads and gardens. Flurries began falling north of the border at around 9pm on Monday, with photographs showing it settling in Braemar, Aberdeenshire. Snow was also pictured in Yorkshire, covering a street in Whitby, and there were reports of a dusting at Manchester Airport before midnight.
The Met Office has warned that the cold snap may last a fortnight and that temperatures in parts of the UK will not reach double digits until Thursday. The mercury could drop to minus 15C in some sheltered Scottish glens, especially where there is fresh snow cover, with up to 16 inches of snow expected in some areas.
Temperatures are set to drop almost six degrees below the coldest last March, when they reached minus 9.1C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. The lowest temperature recorded in the UK so far this year is minus 10.4C, recorded at Drumnadrochit near Inverness in the Highlands on January 19.
Weather warnings for snow and ice are in place across all four nations of the UK, with more expected as Arctic air sweeps across the country. A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for London, the Thames Valley, East Anglia, parts of the Midlands and South Wales from 9pm Monday until 10am Tuesday. An identical one is in place in Northern Ireland. Another yellow warning covers much of northern and eastern Scotland and north-east England, extending as far south as Hull from Tuesday until 10am Wednesday. South West England and South Wales will be covered by a yellow warning for snow all day Wednesday.
