Coldest night of winter recorded as snap to continue

The UK has recorded its coldest night of this winter, along with widespread frost, with more bitterly cold weather expected over the weekend.

The lowest recorded overnight temperature as of 09:00 GMT was -14.5C (5.9F) in Altnaharra, northern Scotland.

It is possible temperatures will fall lower on Friday night. The hard frost will not be as widespread, but in the north-east temperatures could reach -15C or -16C, according to BBC Weather.

Four yellow weather warnings – mostly for ice, with one for snow and ice – had been in place on Friday morning, but all have since expired, with no new warnings issued by the Met Office.

The cold spell has already brought heavy snowfall to many areas, but the number of flood warnings that had been issued earlier in the week has been decreasing.

School closures appear to be less extensive than on Thursday.

Just over 50 schools and 35 nurseries in the Scottish Highlands are affected by full or partial closures on Friday, according to the Highland Council.

Aberdeenshire Council also lists a number of schools where opening has been delayed, with 16 closed or partially closed.

Six schools are also closed in Northern Ireland and around 30 in Wales – mainly in north Wales.

The closures follow widespread warnings of travel disruption to road and rail services this week.

“It’s been pretty dire and treacherous in places across the roads this week across the UK,” AA president Edmund King told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We’ve seen breakdowns increase by about 60%, calls to our accident assist hotline are also up.”

Batteries, tyres and frozen windscreen wipers have been among problems reported.

In North Yorkshire, staff who had been snowed-in and stuck inside a pub for days were finally able to leave on Thursday.

“The roads have been so bad,” one member of staff told PA news agency. “There are places where you can see it’s near enough four foot. The snow is just so high.”

A number of railway services have seen disruption throughout the week and National Rail has advised passengers to check before they travel, as ice and snow can mean speed restrictions and line closures.

Buses are replacing trains between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog until Monday.

Transport for Wales has said “some parts” of its network are closed following damage to the track due to weather conditions.

The second coldest night of the winter was recorded on Sunday night, with -13.3C in Loch Glascarnoch, according to BBC Weather.

The continuing low temperatures mean that an amber cold health alert in place for all of England has been extended until 09:00 on Tuesday, indicating that the forecast weather is expected to have significant impacts across health – including a rise in deaths.

The wintry conditions have caused significant disruption across the UK since snow swept many parts of the country on the weekend.

Some flooding is also expected, with a number of flood warnings as well as flood alerts – where flooding is deemed possible – in place for parts of England.

The number of flood warnings is falling, with none left in Scotland or Wales.

Over the weekend the weather is forecast to become a little less chilly, but only gradually. Little rain is forecast.

After another bitterly cold night on Friday, Saturday will see maximum temperatures of between 1 and 5C around the country.

By Sunday, western parts of the UK will continue to thaw out, with highs in double figures in Northern Ireland and western Scotland, whilst central and eastern parts of England – as well as eastern Scotland – will hold on to the cold, icy conditions for another day.

However, the milder air is forecast to spread eastwards across all areas at the start of next week.