An Arctic blast of very cold air will this weekend bring snow, sleet, hail, freezing rain and icy conditions across most of the UK, forecasters have said.
The Met Office issued new yellow warnings for wintry conditions and potential travel disruption lasting until Sunday morning. Previous snow and ice warnings for Scotland and northern England expired at noon on Friday. Freezing temperatures have also led to a four-day health alert for cold weather.
In northern Scotland and coastal areas of north-east England and Yorkshire from 4pm until 10am Saturday there are warnings of snow, sleet and hail showers. Across Wales, south-west England, northern England, the Midlands, the east of England down to London the warning is for ice between 5pm and 10am on Saturday.
A yellow warning for ice has been issued for Northern Ireland, which will be in place from 8pm on Friday until 10am on Saturday.
A further snow and ice yellow warning comes into place between 9pm on Saturday and 10am on Sunday. It covers Scotland and northern England, with forecasters predicting potentially heavy snow and freezing rain.
The wintry conditions would mean hazardous ice on untreated roads and pavements, forecasters said. The Met Office said the wintry weather was the result of an Arctic maritime air mass bringing colder conditions from the north of Scotland southwards.
On Friday morning, National Highways said the A66, a major route across the Pennines, was closed between the A67 near Bowes in County Durham and the A685 near Brough in Cumbria because of “concentrated snowfall”.
It said: “National Highways area team crews are on scene with winter treatment vehicles working to clear and treat the carriageway, however forecasts predict that snowfall will continue in the area throughout the morning. Units from Cumbria police are also on scene assisting to clear the traffic. Road users travelling across the Pennines are advised to plan ahead and consider alternate routes.”
The UK Health Security Agency issued yellow alerts for cold weather across northern England and the Midlands from 6am on Friday until 8am on Monday. The alerts warn of a greater risk to life for vulnerable people and increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people.
The wintry weather comes after a strikingly wet start to 2026 for large parts of the UK. People in parts of Devon, Cornwall and Worcestershire had rain for 40 days, the Met Office said this week. On Friday in England there were 76 flood warnings and 154 flood alerts in place. In Wales there were four flood alerts.
For others it was the absence of sun, with Aberdeen going through 21 days of sunless weather until, finally, it came out for about 30 minutes on Thursday afternoon.
