Sub-zero temperatures freeze the UK and London falls to 1C as map exhibits extra warnings for snow and ice – however a storm may hit this week

Much of Britain woke up to frost this morning with sub-zero temperatures across England and yellow warnings for ice and 75mph winds in Scotland.

The mercury fell to -3.1C (26.4F) in Aberdeenshire early this morning, while the coldest place in England was Marham in Norfolk which dropped to -1.8C (28.8F).

Other English counties falling below -1C overnight were Surrey (Charlwood), Hampshire (Odiham) and Dorset (Hurn), while London dropped to 1C (34F).

The Met Office issued a yellow warning for ice across most of Scotland until 10am today amid concerns over ‘injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces’, after a band of rain and snow moved east across parts of the country yesterday afternoon.

A wind alert then runs from 4pm today until 9am tomorrow for northern Scotland, with gusts reaching 50 to 60mph widely and 65 to 75mph around exposed coasts.

Forecasters are also keeping a close eye on this weekend amid concerns a storm could hit Britain, although no warnings have yet been issued past tomorrow.

BBC Weather issued an ‘early hears up of a potentially stormy start to the weekend’, while the Met Office said a deep low-pressure system could arrive on Saturday. 

Meanwhile the Environment Agency still has 41 flood alerts and five warnings in place for England today after torrential downpours from Storm Bert ten days ago. 

Met Office meteorologist Amy Bokota said this morning: ‘Another cool and bright start to the day, but it is all change as we head through this afternoon.

‘We do have a strong westerly jet stream pushing an area of low pressure across the UK through Wednesday afternoon, and then we do see a further frontal system pushed on this strong westerly jet as we head through Thursday.

‘This is setting up for quite an unsettled end to the week with further frontal systems pushing through.’

Today will be a cold but mostly dry and bright day, with highs of 10C (50F) in South East England and Wales, 12C (54F) in the South West, 8C (46F) in the Midlands and North West, and 5C (41F) in the North East.

Scotland will get up to 7C (45F), while Northern Ireland will reach 9C (48F).

It comes after the coldest UK temperature yesterday was -6.4C (20.5F) at Braemar in Aberdeenshire, while the high was 11.2C (52.2F) on the Isles of Scilly. 

Ms Bokota said: ‘A fairly bright start to the day, but there is a yellow ice warning in force with parts of Scotland through this morning.

‘Elsewhere, fairly hazy sunshine around but a largely fine day ahead of this frontal system pushing into parts of Northern Ireland and North West Scotland as we head into the early part of the afternoon.

‘Winds strengthening here and it’ll be turning generally quite cloudy and blustery. With those winds and those higher temperatures with that southerly flow, we start to get some milder air moving in. 

‘So temperatures a touch higher at 10C or 12C across the far South West, but it still be fairly cool down the East Coast. Still holding on single figures and still feeling fairly cool and crisp here. 

A band of heavy rain and strong winds will move into Northern Ireland and Scotland this afternoon, possible gales across the North West of Scotland where the warning is in place.

Ms Bokota continued: ‘Heading through the rest of the afternoon then, so that frontal system steadily moving eastwards as we head through the later part of the afternoon and evening.

‘We do have a yellow wind warning in force for parts of North West and northern Scotland and later on when that front system clears through, further blustery showers moving through here as well.’

Tonight, the band of rain will move south-eastwards, but clearer spells will develop behind in the North West as winds slowly ease across the West.

Ms Bokota said: ‘Temperatures will be notably milder particularly across Scotland, up into the mid-single figures and less in the way of widespread frost.

‘Certainly milder across the South West, 10C or 12C to start the day and it’ll be a fairly damp and cool start to the day across the far South East of England.’

Rain will clear the South East through tomorrow morning, but it will remain cloudy for most in the South. Heavy rain will also move into the North through tomorrow as winds pick up.

Ms Bokota explained: ‘It’ll be a damp start to the day certainly for south-eastern England and it will be a fairly miserable rush hour with that rain and that wind.

‘There will be a brief interlude of some drier conditions but fairly breezy through Thursday, but it won’t be long before further showers and heavy rain move in from the West.

‘Temperatures notably milder, so around 10C or 11C across the northern half of the country, 13C or possibly 14C in the far South.’

The Met Office warned conditions are likely to become more unsettled from Friday onwards, with ‘heavy rain and strong winds at times, particularly into the weekend with gales possible’.

And Ms Bokota said: ‘Heading through Thursday evening, that will slowly start to move away, but we do have further frontal systems arriving from Friday into Saturday – a little bit of uncertainty on this.’

Explaining the wind warning, Met Office spokeswoman Andrea Bishop said winds will initially be south or south-easterly, but turn westerly during tomorrow morning.

She added that further warnings could be issued as the weather system develops.

Ms Bishop said: ‘At this time it looks like the unsettled conditions will continue into the weekend, with a deep low-pressure system possibly crossing the UK into Saturday bringing strong winds and rain to some areas.

‘Weather warnings could be issued as the details of the developments and hazards become clearer. Given the potential for disruption from this system, it is important to keep up to date with the latest forecast.

‘Once this low-pressure system has cleared the country, it looks likely that colder northerly air will again push down across the UK from the north.’

National Rail has also warned of possible train disruption in Scotland later this week, saying in an alert that ‘stormy conditions may develop on Friday with potential to continue over the weekend’.

However, there were no weather-related rail disruptions as of 8am this morning.