UK weather forecast latest: Snow and ice to blight country as chill sweeps in from the east

Met Office warns there is chance of power cuts and disruption to phone services

The UK should brace for more snow and ice as the weekend approaches and an easterly chill moves in, forecasters have warned.

Travel disruption is also predicted, just weeks after swathes of the country were brought to a standstill by Storm Emma and the so-called Beast from the East weather system.

A yellow warning is in place for parts of Scotland and the North-east and East of England overnight on Friday into Saturday, with a second alert covering London and the South-east on Sunday.

On Friday, the Met Office said, “a band of rain and hill snow will increasingly turn to snow to lower levels”.

They added: “This band will gradually ease during Saturday morning as it moves south-westwards, allowing ice to form as it clears. Some roads and railways are likely to be affected with longer journey times by road, bus and train services. Icy patches are likely on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.”

The weekend and Monday will be cold but forecasters reserved their strongest travel warning for Sunday, when they said converging snow showers posed a small risk of stranding vehicles on the roads, and forcing cancellations or delays to train services.

“There is a small chance that power cuts will occur and services, such as mobile phone, may be affected”, the Met Office added.

On its website, it said: “High pressure over Scandinavia will feed a very cold easterly airstream across the country during this weekend.

“As this air crosses the North Sea snow showers will form on Sunday, and could well merge into convergence lines producing 2cm to 5cm of snow in places. This is most likely near the Thames estuary and the Wash, and these snow showers could then spread westwards.”

There are currently no warnings in place for Monday.