Met Office snow map reveals where Arctic chill will hit TODAY as cold health alerts begin & mercury plunges to -3C

A MET Office snow map reveals where an Arctic chill will hit today – as cold health alerts begin and the mercury plunges to -3C.

Much of the UK will be buffeted by “disruptive snow”, ice and punishing temperatures this week.

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More than to 20cm of snow may accumulate in some areas – giving the country its “first taste of winter”.

A string yellow weather warnings for snow and ice will be in force today.

Forecasters said there is “potential” for the yellow warnings to be “escalated”.

One warning comes into force at 7pm and will cover the East Midlands, Yorkshire, Wales and the north of England overnight.

There is a chance of power cuts, disruption to road and public transport and the risk of injury from slipping on ice.

Another snow and ice warning will cover the far north of Scotland until 11am this morning.

The UK Health Security Agency has also issued a cold health alert covering most of England until Thursday.

It comes after the mercury dropped to -3.3C in the Scottish Highlands last night.

Met Office expert Tom Morgan: “We could see some disruptive snow in the Pennine regions, in particular, the Peak District as well, especially Monday night.

“But we could well see some impacts lasting on until Tuesday morning’s rush hour.

“Even down to lower levels, we could well see some snow as well, so quite a bit of disruption is possible by Tuesday morning.

“The week ahead is likely to stay cold nationwide, a windy day tomorrow, and then winter showers through the week ahead.

“What we can say is that it’s going to be very cold for the for the time of year.

“There will be widespread overnight frosts, and a few locations where there’s snow on the ground.”

Daytime highs for the week ahead are forecast to be around 5C – well below the average high for this time of year.

Some parts of Scotland will reach “only just above freezing”, Morgan added.

There are “likely” to be changes to the weather warnings in the coming days.

Some “winter flurries” could be seen in the south of England later this week.

Despite the nippy conditions, the “whole of the UK” will enjoy more sunshine this week.

Morgan said: “There’ll be some snow showers in the peripheries of the UK, particularly northern Scotland, and down the east and the west coast.

“But if you live inland and you live in the south, there’ll be lots of sparkly blue skies on the most days through Tuesday to Friday.”