Blizzards are forecast for parts of Britain on Friday morning as Storm Larisa arrives, with 50mph winds and up to 40cm of snow in a cold snap that has already left thousands without power.
The Met Office issued three amber warnings for northern England, the Midlands, North Wales and Northern Ireland, where “significant disruption” to transport and power supplies is expected.
Three yellow warnings for snow also cover much of the rest of Britain, with the exception of southern England and western Scotland.
Storm Larisa is set to bring “treacherous conditions” to the UK on Thursday night and Friday morning, with 50mph winds and up to 40cm of snow forecast in some areas.
Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said the storm, which has been named by the French weather service, is bringing rain and snow to the UK.
“Storm Larisa, which Meteo France have named, is the same low pressure system that is bringing us the bands of rain,” he said.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “The combination of heavy snow and gales is why we're likely to see blizzards and drifting snow, which causes extra hazards on the roads.
"In places covered by amber warnings, there will be very difficult, treacherous conditions. Ideally avoid travelling in those periods – but if you have to head out then be aware that journeys could take significantly longer."
Parts of southern England have already seen power outages, with distributor UK Power Networks suggesting that around 37,500 customers have been affected.
Haverhill and Stowmarket in East Anglia were hit by unplanned outages, alongside areas in Hertfordshire and Essex including Bishop’s Stortford, Chelmsford, Hastingwood, Epping and Harlow.
In London, Enfield, Tottenham, Borehamwood and Hornsey are among the areas affected, with power cuts also stretching further west from Stanmore to Northwood.
Meanwhile, Electricity North West reports that parts of Cumbria are also down with unplanned outages.
In Sussex, more than 5,000 homes and businesses are without power from Hassocks to Burgess Hill, with UK Power Networks inspecting its equipment after an earlier outage on Thursday morning.
Mims Davies, the Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, warned that areas including Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and the surrounding villages had been affected. “UK Power Networks became aware of a fault at around 8.30am following a fault with an overhead cable in the Horsham area,” Ms Davies tweeted.
“An emergency isolation of some areas has been needed for safe repairs to be undertaken.” Urging that this is a “significant outage”, she advised locals to call UK Power Networks on 105 if they need to access support.
East Midlands Airport, in Leicestershire, briefly closed its runway due to the weather.
The Met Office amber snow alert lasts until midday Friday and covers major cities including Liverpool, Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds.
