UK weather: Snow and ice on the roads cause travel chaos nationwide as thousands left without power

Yellow warning issued for snow and ice

UK weather: The latest Met Office forecast

Britain's big freeze will continue this weekend, with heavy snow likely to cause significant travel disruption.

Saturday night could be the coldest night of the winter so far, the Met Office warned, with temperatures likely to fall to -16C in Scotland.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice remains in place for large parts of the UK.

Here is how we covered the day's events

Key Points

• Met Office predicts coldest night of winter for Saturday
• Yellow weather warnings issued for large parts of UK
• Police work through the night to free drivers stranded in Kent
• Heavy snowfall causes thousands to lose power 

[2 February 2019 16:22 · Zamira Rahim]

Snow felled trees are still being cleared away from a blocked road in Kent.

[2 February 2019 16:32 · Zamira Rahim]

Britain's pets and police dogs are loving the wintry weather.

Here's a photo of Jim. Wiltshire Police's dog, enjoying his day off in the snow. 

[2 February 2019 16:42 · Zamira Rahim]

Officers with Surrey Police have been busy today, clearing snow felled trees from roads in Hindhead and Merrow.

[2 February 2019 16:52 · Zamira Rahim]

Here's some lovely footage of horses in the snow at Sowerby, West Yorkshire.

[2 February 2019 17:30 · Shehab.Khan]

With the big freeze set to continue some skiers may be tempted to test out their skills in urban areas.

But experts have warned of the dangers and urged enthusiasts to stick to the countryside and parks.

Daniel Loots, from the Ski Club of Great Britain, said he advised against skiing or snowboarding on the street or pavement as "although it looks fun it's pretty dangerous".

Mr Loots said: "Pavement users may not have the ability to stop or turn should you be on course for collision.

"Being towed by a vehicle can also put the driver at risk of being fined for dangerous driving."

[2 February 2019 18:04 · Shehab.Khan]

Here's the forecast from the Met Office:

[2 February 2019 18:22 · Shehab.Khan]

It's not just the UK that has been hit with a cold snap - thousands of vehicles were stuck in long queues caused by heavy snow on Italy's A22 motorway on Saturday, and firefighters rescued 200 people who had been trapped for hours in cars and buses.

Queues on the route connecting northeastern regions to Austria reached 16 km (9.94 miles), said a spokesperson for the firefighters of the autonomous province of Bolzano.

He added it was hard to assess the number of vehicles involved but they were in the "thousands".

[2 February 2019 18:23 · Shehab.Khan]

Firefighters' vehicles were used to evacuate about 200 people in need after they had been trapped for hours, with temperatures around freezing, the spokesperson said.

Due to bad weather several heavy vehicles, which were not equipped for winter circulation, had swerved, blocking circulation. An avalanche hit the motorway on Saturday morning, but no vehicles were present on that stretch of the motorway.

Some traffic started moving again in the late afternoon but many vehicles were still trapped. No casualties were reported.