UK hit by blast of wintry weather as temperatures plummet

The UK has been hit by a blast of cold weather, with temperatures falling as low as -5C (23F) overnight amid forecasts of snow and freezing rain.

Meteorologists had warned that temperatures overnight could plummet to -8C as a week-long spell of wintry conditions hit.

Initial data indicated that Rostherne, in Cheshire, and Yeovilton, in Somerset, dropped to -5C overnight. Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway, felt the same chilly temperatures, hitting -5C at 11pm on Thursday.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) cold weather health alerts remained in place for all of England .

Amber alerts issued on Thursday, indicating the likelihood of a rise in the number of deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, will run until 8 January, the UKHSA said.

Dan Stroud, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said conditions should become warmer by the end of this weekend before the cold weather returns early next week.

He said: “The second half of the weekend should be in the high singles or low doubles [for temperature figures]. But temperatures will dive again next week, particularly on Monday and Tuesday.

“They should start to improve towards the latter end of the week. But there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge until then.”

Met Office warnings for snow and ice were in place on Friday across parts of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and northern England.

A yellow warning for heavy snow and freezing rain was in place for the period from midday on Saturday until 9am on Monday across most of England and Wales.

The Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “We’ve issued a very large snow warning for Saturday until Monday but it doesn’t mean that everywhere within that warning could see snow, it’s just a heads-up there could be some impacts.”

The Met Office has warned people to be prepared and aware when travelling, with longer journey times likely.

National Rail confirmed that various railway routes across England, Scotland and Wales were likely to be affected.

Source: theguardian.com