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UK colder than Moscow as temperatures plunge to -13C

The UK has shivered through the coldest night of the year so far, with temperatures plunging as low as -13C.

Large swathes of the country saw temperatures fall below freezing, and the Met Office says the village of Shawbury in Shropshire was coldest of all.

It meant Britain was colder than Moscow, where temperatures reached -2C overnight, and Oslo which hit -6C.

:: Key fact as Britain's big freeze enters its fifth day

Severe weather warnings for snow and ice are in place until 11am on Tuesday across much of the UK as forecasters warned the icy conditions could bring further travel disruption.

Hundreds of schools are also staying closed for the day - including in Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and parts of Wales - amid concerns of treacherous conditions on untreated paths, and fears that snow will have compacted into ice.

The Met Office said: "Some roads and railways are likely to be affected with some journey times taking longer.

"There will probably be icy stretches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths with some injuries from slips trips and falls."

Yellow "be aware" alerts for snow and ice have been issued for eastern England and the east and north of Scotland, where 2cm to 5cm of snow was predicted on higher ground.

Further warnings for ice were in place for London and the South East, the Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Met Office said it was the UK's coldest night since the night of 13/14 February 2016, when temperatures plummeted to -14.1C in Braemar.

Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said the coldest temperatures had been recorded in Wales and central England because of the large amount of snow which had not melted yet.

"As well as that skies have been clear over the last few nights and winds have been light, so as a result temperatures have really plummeted away across central parts of the UK," she added.

Heathrow Airport said flights continued to be disrupted by the weather on Tuesday, with cancellations also reported at airports in Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.

In parts of Gloucestershire, 36 homes were without power for a second night after ice and snow caused disruption across the country over the weekend.

Western Power Distribution said the outage was caused by the weather and engineers were expecting to have the power restored by 7.30am on Tuesday.