UK weather forecast: Met Office issues yellow warnings for ice as temperatures plummet

Yellow weather warnings for ice are in place for Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of northern England on Monday as plummeting temperatures sweep across parts of the UK.

The warnings are in place until 11am today (2 January) and temperatures are expected to drop to as low as -8C in the Highlands, the Met Office has said.

Forecasters highlighted the risk of injury from slips and falls on icy surfaces, as well as icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.

The Met Office said: “Following recent wet conditions, surfaces are likely to remain wet into Monday morning and, with a cold night, icy stretches will readily form on untreated surfaces. A few rain, sleet and snow showers may still affect these areas overnight, but ice remains the main hazard.”

Forecasters say Monday is likely to be the driest day of the week as rain moving in from the Atlantic is expected to bring wet weather for much of the country over the coming days.

The first week of the new year is set to be unsettled with wet, windy and cold weather for most, before turning milder. Fourteen flood warnings are in place over the next five days, with local flooding from rivers and surface water possible on Tuesday and Wednesday (3-4 January) for parts of North West England.

Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said: “We’re expecting temperatures to get low enough for a few icy stretches to develop by around midnight across parts of Northern Ireland and northern England.

“The big thing tonight, most people will notice across England and Wales, is it will feel colder than it has done the last few nights. We’re looking at temperatures into mid-single figures with a rural frost possible in parts of Wales, for example. There’s the risk of some icy stretches around, so definitely anyone out early tomorrow morning just needs to take some care.

“We’re expecting a lot of wet weather as we move into the working week. The best day of the week is probably going to be Bank Holiday Monday, with a lot of dry and generally fine weather across the country, a bit of a cloud in the mix, with cloud and rain moving in early Tuesday morning.

“And then our focus gets to a spell of wet weather (on) Tuesday into Wednesday and that could produce quite a bit of rain across some western locations.”

The ice warnings come after the north has already faced disruption from flooding in recent days, with Network Rail being forced to part of the West Coast Mainline after an embankment beneath the railway was significantly damaged during extreme weather on 30 December.

The track between Carlisle and Glasgow has now been closed until 6 January as engineers are working to remove landslip material on a 40m-long section of the line and reinforcing it with more than 200 tonnes of new stone.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “While our colleagues at Network Rail are working hard to reopen the affected parts of the line damaged by the landslip caused by extreme weather, our advice to customers is do not to travel to and from Scotland on the West Coast Mainline.

“Customers are being advised not to travel north of Carlisle as there are no services. An amended timetable is in place between Carlisle and London Euston. Customers travelling south of Carlisle are being strongly advised to check their journey before they travel.”

All flood warnings in Scotland have now been lifted but some are still in place around York, East Sussex, Bournemouth, Bristol and the Lake District.