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UK weather forecast: Snow in London as Britain braces for coldest night of year with temperatures set to drop as low as -11C

Millions of Britons are bracing for the coldest night of the year tonight as weather warnings are issued for snow and ice across large swathes of the country.

Temperatures could plummet as low as -11C in some areas of the Scottish Highlands on Thursday night, while even central London could see the mercury fall to -2C.

The freezing night across most of the country will follow a day in which the Met Office has warned of severe winter weather for much of the UK.

All areas apart from Cornwall and southeast England have been told ice could bring travel delays and risk of injury. Hills more than 200 metres above sea level in Scotland look set for significant snow.

Parts of London and southern England also saw a small amount of snow fall early on Thursday morning.

“It’s going to be a very cold day, most places will be a good 5C colder than they were yesterday,” Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge told The Independent.

“This afternoon, you are only looking at highs of around 3C in places like Cardiff and even in London it may only reach 5C.

“Thursday is likely to be the coldest night of the week, most areas will be below freezing, central London will be down to –2C, in some spots of rural Scotland we may see -11C.

“If that does happen it will be the coldest night of the year. The current record is -10.5C in Braemar in Aberdeenshire and if that is broken its likely to be by somewhere in that general area.”

Although cold, most areas will stay dry on Thursday, but Friday will see a band of rain slowly moving in from the west, bringing showers to Northern Ireland, Wales and southwest England.

Hill snow could fall in Northern Ireland and Wales, although this is not likely to be widespread enough to disrupt travel networks.

Into the weekend, temperatures are set to stay below average for the time of year, with more rain and hill snow predicted in western areas but conditions will stay drier in the east.

Forecasts suggest the early part of next week will remain cold, with the potential for more wintry weather on the way.

The Met Office warned the leading edge of a band of rain due to sweep across the country from the west could bring snow to Scotland and northern England on Monday and Tuesday.