Britain faces widespread snow today as an Arctic freeze grips the country for up to a week amid fears over travel chaos and temperatures plummeting to -10C.
Yellow warnings for snow and ice were activated this morning for London, southern England, the Midlands and North West as well as Wales and Northern Ireland.
Snow has been falling since yesterday in Scotland but significant accumulations are set to build up from midday there when an amber warning comes into force.
The Met Office expects daytime temperatures across the UK will struggle to breach 0C (32F) and could even fall into the minus double digits over the coming days.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) extended an amber cold health alert for all of England until next Friday amid warnings of the weather causing a rise in deaths.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting warned that the ‘bitingly cold snap’ will put extra pressure on NHS hospitals as he urged people to only attend A&E for emergencies.
Travel disruption is expected as wintry weather moves south-eastwards over England and Wales today, with National Rail warning passengers to check before they travel.
A 12-hour yellow weather warning for snow and ice was in place throughout this morning until noon for an area covering London, Greater Manchester and Cardiff.
Around 2cm (0.8in) of snow could fall within the warning area, with up to 5cm (2in) on higher ground of North Wales, North West England and the North West Midlands.
