UK weather forecast: Met Office warns of heavy snow as temperatures to hit -12C on coldest night of year

Icy temperatures and disruptive snow expected to last for a month

Britain is bracing for the coldest night of the year on Wednesday as forecasters warn temperatures could plummet to -12C in parts of the country.

The Met Office put the whole of the UK on alert to expect the heaviest snow of the winter so far, with a chance of up to 10cm falling on higher ground. As the snow extends more widely to lower levels it could reach up to 3cm.

The warning in Scotland, Northern Ireland and most of the UK runs until 11am on Wednesday, while the south east, London and East Anglia are covered until 12pm.

A new weather system could break this winter’s current record low of -10.8C and bring with it more disruption.

Emma Smith, meteorologist with the Met Office, said: "There is freezing fog coming from the west on Wednesday so we expect temperatures to drop to -12C in the north overnight. It will be the coldest night this winter and means a really cold start tomorrow."

Scotland as well as Benton, in Oxfordshire, and Santon Downham, Suffolk, are among parts of England which could be coldest.

A cold front is also moving towards Devon and Cornwall and into Thursday evening there will be anything between 2-5cm of snow in some places.

A spell of persistent snow is expected to blanket much of the country with some areas of high ground, such as the Brecon Beacons in Wales due to see up to 10cm.

Rural areas in southern England, East Anglia and the East Midlands worst affected by the wintry conditions.

There is a “slight chance” that some rural communities could be cut off while power cuts may occur and mobile phone coverage could be affected, the Met Office added.

Looking ahead, central and eastern parts of the country will be largely dry through to the weekend with the best of the sunshine in the east. However, temperatures will struggle to climb above 3C in the southeast.

Last winter Siberian icy weather from a polar vortex brought heavy snow and biting winds causing hundreds of deaths.

While there is no significant chance of the return of last winter’s deadly ‘Beast from the East”, Ms Smith said the extreme conditions were due to remain for some time.

Further bouts of snow and occasional severe frosts are predicted for February.

“We have a cold frontal system from the west coming from the Atlantic which means the cold spells will be around until late February,” she said.

Motorists have been urged to avoid journeys on the road as Britain braces for ice cold weather and “very significant snowfall” which will bring with it widespread travel chaos.

Those that do need to travel have been advised to allow extra time for their journey and take particular care in deteriorating conditions, as reports come in of motorway accidents.

Commuters have also been told to expect delays and cancellations for flights and rail journeys.

Manchester and Liverpool's airports have temporarily halted flights with images posted to social media showing both runways blanketed in snow. Passengers have been told to check the status of their flight before travelling.

January 1982 holds the record for the coldest January with the temperature dropping to -27.2C at Braemar, Aberdeen.