THE Met Office has revealed a map of snow pushing to the far south today as the mercury dipped to -13C overnight in an Arctic blast.
The forecaster said a system is skirting the south of the UK and could even move further north bringing more flurries to southern counties.
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It comes as the UK shivered through another cold night on Tuesday, with some areas approaching near record-low temperatures.
According to provisional recordings by the Met Office, the mercury fell to as low as minus 13C in Glen Ogle, central Scotland, while minus 11C was recorded at Tulloch Bridge in the Scottish Highlands.
It marked the coldest night this winter so far, beating the minus 12.5C daily minimum temperature recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands on December 3.
Freezing temperatures and snow will continue for much of Britain this week because of cold Arctic air before “potentially disruptive” stormy weather lands over the weekend.
A “cold plunge of Arctic air” has moved south across the whole country over the past few days, making it 5C to 6C lower than usual for this time of year.
A Met Office spokeswoman said the low temperatures are also due to how long the cold snap has lasted.
She said: “It’s due to the prolonged nature of this cold spell, it will have been lasting for quite a few days.
“A build up of snow, as well, just allows for the temperatures to get colder and colder and we don’t often see a cold spell last three to five days.
“The air is coming directly from the Arctic, so it is exceptionally cold air.
“It’s staying cold until Friday, and then looking further ahead into the weekend we’ve got some deep areas of low pressure pushing in, so a big change in weather type, and we could see some stormy conditions by the end of the week.
“The cold isn’t lasting right to end of the week, but we have a very different type of potentially-disruptive weather arriving.”
The weather is forecast to turn stormy on Sunday, she added.
Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are in place across Scotland, much of northern England and parts of North Wales until Thursday, then more mild temperatures are forecast along with wind and rain.
More than 40cm of snow could be seen on high ground in north-west Scotland by the end of Friday as it continues to build up over the coming days.
Meanwhile, lower ground in north-west Scotland could see between five and 10cm of snow by the end of the working week.
The Met Office said on Tuesday: “There is a system skirting the south of the UK tonight and on Wednesday.
“This could bring a few snow flurries to the far south with a small chance of pushing slightly further north to bring more snow to southern counties.”
Read more on the Scottish Sun
It said it is reviewing the situation and any new warnings could be issued at short notice.
The weekend will be milder, but westerly weather will bring wind and rain – and the potential for more weather warnings as the snow melts.
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