Snow has fallen as far south as London and across other parts of the UK after the Met Office issued a weather warning for icy conditions as a cold snap gripped the country following last week’s spring sunshine.
Following last week’s highs of 20C (68F), a cold snap has moved in across the UK with temperatures forecast to top 10C (50F) heading into the weekend.
The Met Office earlier issued a yellow weather warning for ice covering a large swathe of eastern Scotland, northeast England and Yorkshire until 10am on Thursday.
It states that “snow and hail showers could lead to icy surfaces, with possible travel disruption”.
However, light snowfall has been spotted as far south of the UK as London this morning as temperatures after plummeted overnight.
Meteorologist Matty Box said that there was currently a “cold air mass” over the UK and warned that more weather warnings could be issued for Friday morning.
“There is an ice warning out at the moment,” he said. “If there’s any melt and it refreezes overnight then there’s an ice risk.
“I suspect there will be a similar risk for Thursday night to Friday morning.”
People have been sharing their snow pictures on social media, with some waking up to blankets of snow outside in the likes of Aberdeen, Yorkshire, Newcastle and Derbyshire among other places.
Mr Box added that there could be a likely occurrence of snow over Thursday night and Friday morning as well.
“It will be concentrated and there will be snow showers”, he said.
“It will be eastern and northern areas of the UK that are more likely to see any showers of rain, sleet or snow.”
The weather will then improve over the weekend, with some sunny spells.
Snowy scenes in the village of Pole Moor, Kirklees, West Yorkshire
He added: “Showers will become less frequent, but still with the chance of some wintry showers effects in the east coast and the North Sea coast in particular through Saturday.
“There should be a fair amount of sunshine as well with sunny spells in between.”
The Met Office says the snow and hail showers could lead to icy surfaces and possible disruptions to travel
Temperatures fell below freezing on Wednesday night through to Thursday morning, prompting councils to issue emergency protocols to deal with the swift change.
Meanwhile, councils in Newcastle City, North Tyneside and Gateshead all introduced their severe weather emergency protocols on Wednesday night – offering services to help people who are sleeping rough.
The Met Office also warned that hail showers could lead to icy surfaces, possibly causing travel disruption due to icy patches on roads and pavements – leading to an increased chance of accidents or injuries.
Forecasters added that some higher elevation roads may be also affected by snowfall, resulting in longer journey times