London braced for snow as yellow weather warning extended after icy -5.5C night: live – UK Times

Hundreds of areas have been issued flood warnings and alerts in England and Wales.

The Environment Agency, which addresses flood risk in England, has issued 84 flood warnings and 156 flood alerts. Natural Resources Wales has issued one flood warning and four alerts for Wales.

Temperatures could hit as low as -15C on Thursday night with “potentially the lowest temperatures of the Winter so far”.

Chris Almond, deputy chief forecaster of the Met Office, said -15C temperatures are possible in areas with lying snow in Scotland or northern England.

He added: “In the early hours of Friday, a front arriving from the west will encounter the cold air in place over the UK. This could bring further sleet or snowfall for some regions in the south and west, as well as a risk of ice for a time as it moves north-eastwards into central parts, but the extent of this is still uncertain.”

A Met Office weather graphic shows the icy weather forecast for Wednesday, with large areas of southern England bracing for snowfall.

“Another cold afternoon with snow, sleet and rain across southern England and the snow settling in places,” the forecaster wrote on X.

“Many other areas will stay dry with the best of the sunshine in the north. Wintry showers in northern Scotland and Northern Ireland, especially in coastal regions.”

Schools and nurseries have had to shut in the first week back after the winter holidays.

Large parts of southern England are covered by a snow warning, including southern parts of London, with up to 10cm of snow expected. Snow and ice warnings are also in place across western and northern areas of the UK from Wednesday into Thursday.

Read here for a list of all the school closures across the UK on Wednesday:

With a snow warning in place for most of the southern English coast, uncertainty remains about how far north the snow will reach.

Here’s what southern England can expect, according to Met Office chief forecaster Jason Kelly: “Weather conditions will start to change from the southwest on Wednesday, with fronts from the Atlantic bringing milder air along with moisture.

“As this moisture encounters the cold air, snowfall is expected particularly over higher ground and away from the coast. However, there is still uncertainty about how far north these fronts will reach. They could either skirt the south or move into southern England”

“Currently, a snow warning is in place, but it is not guaranteed. The situation is being closely monitored. As the forecast is finely balanced, do stay up to date with the latest forecast for your area.”

A fresh batch of yellow weather warnings for snow and ice has

been isued across the UK for the next day.

Northern Scotland will be covered from 12pm on Wednesday until 23:59pm on Thursday. the northern part of Northern Ireland will have a warning issued from 4pm today until 11am on Thursday.

Meanwhile, yellow warnings will be issued for western and northern Wales and for Cornwall from 3am until 12pm on Thursday.

There is a risk of travel disruption and dangerous icy patches causing injuries from slips and falls in all the affected areas.

Meteorologists had warned that temperatures overnight could have plummeted to as low as minus 8C as a week-long spell of wintry conditions hit the UK.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) cold weather health alerts for all of England remain in place ahead of a week of low temperatures.

With this news, many will be thinking about how this chilly weather may affect our pets.

It’s important to prepare our dogs, as well as ourselves, for this forecast.

A small update has been made to the yellow snow warning covering southern England from 9am on Wednesday until midnight.

Parts of east Kent have been removed from the warning area, which has been extended in other areas of the south west.

“Outbreaks of sleet and snow are likely to push in from the southwest during Wednesday, affecting some places especially during the afternoon and evening,” the Met Office said.

“Many places will probably see relatively little or no snow settling, (especially on tarmac), but there could be 1-2 cm locally.”