The UK has woken up to “bitterly cold temperatures” after dropping to as low as -8C overnight, as snow and ice warnings remain in place across the country.
Britons have been told to watch out for slipping on icy surfaces and untreated roads on Friday morning as the cold snap continues.
Snow has also disrupted travel in Scotland and sparked a separate weather warning in northern areas.
More cold weather has been forecast for the weekend, with temperatures expected to hover just above freezing on Saturday before plummeting again.
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The ice warning runs across the UK’s east and west coast on Friday morning until midday. It also covers Northern Ireland and southern Scotland, with a separate snow and ice warning in northern Scotland.
The Met Office has extended some of the weather warnings – including the one in western England – into Saturday. On Sunday, only the northern Scotland warning remains.
It comes as the UK faces a cold snap, during which at least four have been killed in car crashes across the country and schools have been forced to close in Scotland.
The Met Office said temperatures of around -8C and -9C were recorded in countryside areas overnight on Thursday into Friday.
Meteorologist Luke Hall described the temperatures as “bitterly cold” on Friday morning and warned they would “soon be plummeting again” in the evening.
He said temperatures of around 2 to 5C were expected in the day, although this would likely feel colder. Inland areas could, however, still experience some sunshine.
Temperatures were expected to plummet again overnight on Friday into Saturday, with the risk of ice in areas that experienced showers in the day.
Mr Hall said temperatures could drop to -8C and -9C in some areas on Saturday morning – even as low as -10C in some parts of Scotland.
Once in the afternoon, they will “struggle once again” and hover “just a few degrees above freezing”, the Met Office meteorologist said.
“But it may only be for a couple of hours that we see temperatures above freezing in some places before they start to dip away again through the evening,” he said.
The cold weather is expected to persist over the weekend
Mr Hall warned drivers may find it difficult to travel in some areas due to “dense patches of freezing fog” in areas.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a Level 3 cold weather alert covering England until Monday.
A fuel poverty charity has warned people struggling to heat their homes due to “impossibly high prices” now faced “dreadful consequences” in the cold snap.
The Met Office predicts the weather will stay “cold or very cold” from Sunday into the start of next week, with more wintry showers mainly along coastal areas and freezing fog also likely in some areas.
Edinburgh has been among the places in Scotland hit by snow
