The Met Office has issued new warnings for snow and ice covering almost the whole of the UK, as a blast of Arctic air sweeps the country. The warnings stretch from the northern isles of Scotland to the South West, including a large part of London, where temperatures are expected to drop close to zero degrees Celsius on Friday night.
A yellow warning for ice has been issued for a large part of England from 5pm on Friday to 10am on Saturday. Further yellow warnings for snow and ice are set to affect northern England and Scotland, extending into Sunday. The Met Office warns up to 15cm of snow could fall on ground above 400 metres.
Forecaster Marco Petagna said: “We’ve got colder air starting to feed in from the north and that’s gradually going to push its way south across all parts for the next 24 hours or so.” He added that there will likely be “widespread frost” on Friday night, but Saturday may be “the best day we’ve seen for some time” with “a lot of sunshine across the UK”.
Travel disruption is expected, particularly for Londoners heading out of the capital for the half-term holiday. Difficult conditions are anticipated on roads in the north, and trains are also likely to be affected. The Met Office said that by Friday morning there may be 1-2cm of snow on low ground, with up to 10cm in some places.
