Weather warning as cold front heads south

Large parts of Britain are likely to see snow today as the predicted arctic snap sweeps further south.

Scotland was the first to be hit by the wintry conditions with seven inches of snow in the early hours of yesterday while temperatures dropped to minus 5C in Northumbria and Northern Ireland.

Yesterday the Met Office issued severe weather warnings particularly for the northern and eastern counties of Scotland and England.

Forecasters were predicting that nowhere in the country would escape the severe cold front today, with daytime temperatures of minus 3C falling to minus 7C by tonight.

"There is a risk of snow everywhere, with the heaviest snow showers likely to be in Scotland and north-east England," said one forecaster, adding that even the South-east was likely to experience a couple of centimetres.

As reports came in that the treacherous weather had claimed its first victims - two men who were killed when their vehicle veered down a bank in icy conditions in Co Antrim - the Highways Agency renewed its warnings to drivers to take extra care.