Snow and ice warnings issued across UK as sub-freezing temperatures set to continue

Watch: Snow blankets houses near Blackburn, England.

Britain continues to face sub-freezing temperatures this week as snow and ice weather warnings are put in place across the country.

A cold snap has swept the UK over the last few days after Storm Bella brought flooding to parts of southern England and winds of more than 100mph.

Many areas woke to a light covering if snow on Tuesday morning while the Met Office recorded an overnight low of -7.7C in Tulloch Bridge in Inverness-shire, Scotland.

The forecaster said the UK will see another cold night on Tuesday night with temperatures possibly dropping to -8C in Scotland and several degrees below freezing in England and Wales.

It comes after much of England and Wales endured a cold and frosty Bank Holiday Monday.

Last week, forecasters said there wouldn’t be a white Christmas Day but that frost would bring a “seasonal feel” to the festive period.

The Met Office has now issued a yellow weather warning for northern and western Scotland and Northern Ireland from 3pm on Tuesday until midnight on Wednesday with possible travel disruptions caused by snow and ice.

Read: Snow brings travel chaos to UK roads as Met Office issues ice weather warnings until Thursday

A yellow warning for ice will also come into force in parts of north-west England and northern Wales from 6pm on Tuesday to 10am Wednesday as wintry showers work their way southwards.

Meanwhile, snow and ice expected to move southwards on Wednesday and Thursday, hitting large swathes of London, the Midlands, the South, South West plus the east of England and Wales.

Watch: Snow causes disruption across parts of UK

By 6pm on Wednesday a snow and ice warning will take affect across southern England until 10am on Thursday, with possible travel disruptions, power cuts and a risk of icy surfaces.

Met Office spokesman Alex Burkhill said: “The cold weather will continue over the next few days with a mixture of sunny intervals and wintry showers.

Read: UK faces 'catastrophe' in coming weeks unless Boris Johnson declares tougher COVID rules

“We're in a cold period at the moment and the cold weather is going to stay with us for a few weeks.

“For lots of nights over the next fortnight, we will see temperatures several degrees below freezing.”

Mr Burkill added that Tulloch Bridge could drop to -7C to -8C in Scotland again on Tuesday night.

“For England and Wales, tomorrow night into Wednesday and Thursday is going to be even colder than it has been recently in those areas with several degrees below freezing,” he said. “-5C to -6C seems possible.”

It comes after drivers were urged to stay off the roads on Monday with treacherous conditions predicted by the AA if thawing snow turned to ice overnight.

Meanwhile, Age UK warned that the severe weather, COVID and chaos at the borders with Europe creates the “perfect storm” to leave elderly people cut off from essential supplies.

The charity urged the public to check on any vulnerable neighbours.

Its director Caroline Abrahams said: “We tend to take easy access to food and other essentials for granted, but this Christmas a number of factors are getting in the way.

“Bad weather, the pandemic and disruption to supply lines from Europe are creating a perfect storm, whereby even the most organised among us can find we’re unexpectedly cut off from things we need.”

Tesco said less than 1% of food orders were affected by the weather yesterday but some were cancelled.

A spokesman added: 'Our colleagues are working hard to deliver more online orders than ever before.

“However, difficult weather conditions in some parts of the country meant that we had to cancel a very small number of deliveries. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and would like to apologise to any customers affected.”