Temperatures could drop to minus 12C before cold snap gives way to sunshine

The UK is expected to see its “coldest night of this winter so far” as temperatures could drop to minus 12C, forecasters say.

Temperatures were already below freezing across much of the country on Friday morning and could fall to around minus 7C in parts of England and Wales, according to the Met Office.

In Scotland, some areas may reach minus 10 to 12C as the recent cold snap reaches its final day.

Forecaster Simon Partridge said: “It does look like we will have the coldest night of this winter so far, widely areas are below freezing.

“And the main reason for that is we’ve got a little ridge of high pressure moving across the UK overnight tonight and basically the main difference between that and previous nights is the winds are a lot lighter.”

Mr Partridge said that much of the country will see frost in the morning but that later in the day there is expected to be widespread sunshine.

He added: “Friday is really the end of the really cold weather as things turn back to average by the time we get into the weekend.”

It comes after hundreds of schools were forced to close, roads were disrupted and homes were left without power because of snow.

About 100 schools closed in northern Scotland on Thursday, while in Wales, 36 were closed in Pembrokeshire, 14 in Carmarthenshire and seven in Ceredigion.

In North Yorkshire, 33 schools were closed while eight were listed as fully closed in East Yorkshire.

The Met Office has a spate of yellow ice warnings in place across the UK on Friday morning, including north, east, south-east and south-west England, northern and south-eastern areas of Scotland and north and west Wales.