The UK is bracing for its coldest night of winter so far, with temperatures forecast to plunge to minus 12C in parts of Scotland. A ridge of high pressure bringing lighter winds will send thermometers tumbling to around minus 7C across England and Wales overnight.
Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said: «It does look like we will have the coldest night of this winter so far, widely areas are below freezing. And the main reason for that is we've got a little ridge of high pressure moving across the UK overnight tonight and basically the main difference between that and previous nights is the winds are a lot lighter.»
The severe cold has already forced hundreds of schools to close. More than 100 shut their doors in northern Scotland on Thursday, while Wales saw 36 closures in Pembrokeshire, 14 in Carmarthenshire and seven in Ceredigion. In Yorkshire, 33 schools closed in North Yorkshire and eight in East Yorkshire.
Ice warnings across UK
Yellow ice warnings remain in place across much of the country on Friday morning. The Met Office alerts cover north, east, south-east and south-west England, northern and south-eastern areas of Scotland, and north and west Wales until 11am.
Chief Forecaster Steve Willington warned: «We're still in the grip of a cold, Arctic air mass today and into Friday, and that means further wintry showers for some, and ice, particularly overnight.» He added: «As temperatures fall overnight, ice will form on untreated surfaces and may cause some travel disruption tonight and into Friday morning.»
The UK Health Security Agency has issued amber cold health alerts for North East and West England, Yorkshire and the Humber. Yellow alerts cover the rest of England until 8am on November 22.
Cold snap ending
Despite the brutal overnight temperatures, Friday marks the end of the Arctic conditions. Partridge said: «Friday is really the end of the really cold weather as things turn back to average by the time we get into the weekend.»
Much of the country will see widespread frost in the morning, but forecasters expect widespread sunshine later in the day. A Met Office spokesman said: «After a widespread frost overnight, the risk of snow diminishes as temperatures turn slightly milder. Many areas will be dry and fine with long spells of sunshine.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
