Freezing temperatures to continue tonight as -22.3C recorded in coldest January in 15 years

Scotland experienced its coldest January night in 15 years as temperatures plummeted to a low of minus 22.3C in one part of the country.

The UK experienced its coldest January overnight temperature since 2010, when temperatures dropped below minus 15C several times at locations across the UK, including minus 22.3C on January 8 in Altnaharra in the north of Scotland.

In the north-east, temperatures hit lows of -9C at Aberdeen Airport and Aboyne. The Met Office has warned that tonight could also see further freezing conditions.

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It comes after Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire were battered by days of heavy snowfall, causing widespread traffic and travel disruption.

The average low in northern Scotland for this time of year is around 0.3C, while for England, overnight lows are about 1.5C to 1.6C.

Maximum temperatures across the weekend are set to be widely in the low single figures, Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said.

Meteorologist Zoe Hutin said on Saturday that night temperatures are expected to drop widely to below freezing in eastern areas.

She said: "So another chilly night to come on Saturday, but then as we go into Sunday and into Monday, then we can start to expect temperatures to recover somewhat.

"I won't rule out the risk of seeing something around or just below freezing again on Sunday night into Monday, but it won't be quite so dramatic as the temperatures that we're going to experience as we go overnight tonight."

Looking ahead to next week, she said: "We're saying it's getting milder but by no stretch does that mean (temperatures) are going to be above average, it just will feel comparatively much more pleasant than it is at the moment."

The UK has experienced a "particularly long cold spell", she said, adding: "It has been getting progressively colder each night this week, whereas looking at previous years, we've had maybe two or three days where things have been particularly cold."