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Officials issue health warnings before Arctic blast hits UK

The road to Glen Etive in Scotland after snowfall earlier in February.
The road to Glen Etive in the Scottish Highlands after snowfall earlier in February. Photograph: Land of Light Photography./REX/Shutterstock

Health officials have warned of the risks of exposure as temperatures plummet over the weekend and Britain faces the prospect of the coldest end to a winter in five years.

Freezing air from Siberia is forecast to envelop the country next week, bringing significant and “disruptive” snowfall. The Arctic blast, nicknamed “the beast from the east”, will cause temperatures to drop below zero from Sunday night, with some areas experiencing lows of -8C (17.6F), and snow forecast to fall in London and the east of England.

On Friday, Public Health England (PHE) told people to look out for the most vulnerable. “Cold temperatures, indoors and out, pose real health risks to many and every winter we know that thousands of people get ill and even die following exposure to cold conditions,” said Dr Thomas Waite, of PHE’s extreme events team.

“It’s critical that if you know anyone over 65, with young children or who has heart or lung conditions, that you keep an eye on them and think what help they may need. Staying warm by heating your home to at least 18°C can be crucial to staying well.”

The Met Office issued yellow warnings of snowfall – the second most severe on the forecasters’ scale – for the early part of next week. It warned of possible travel delays and power cuts, and said some rural communities could be cut off.

“Cold weather is currently established across the country with widespread overnight frosts,” the Met Office’s chief operational meteorologist, Paul Gunderson, said.

“However, colder conditions are expected to extend westwards across England during the weekend bringing a significant, and prolonged period of wintry weather. During Monday and Tuesday, snow showers are expected to move into eastern areas, before spreading westwards across England.”

While not everyone would see snowfall, he said, as much as 10cm was possible in eastern and south-eastern counties. “These will also be accompanied by bitterly cold temperatures, and a significant wind chill. These cold, wintry conditions are then expected to continue on Wednesday, and likely beyond.”

On Friday, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he had opened emergency shelters to protect rough sleepers. “With temperatures dropping across London tonight and this weekend, I’ve opened emergency shelters to ensure people sleeping rough have somewhere warm to stay,” he tweeted.

A Met Office meteorologist, Martin Bowles, said the temperatures could be the lowest in late February since 2013.

“It is quite unusual, particularly as it’s quite late in the season. We refer to 1 March as being the first day of spring and of course 1 March will be right in the middle of this cold spell, so spring will be postponed for a couple of weeks,” he added.