Britain is heading for a cold snap next week with temperatures set to dip below freezing in parts of the country.
Conditions are set to plunge from Monday, with snow and ice possible in areas, the Met Office has forecast.
The ‘notable change’ in the weather comes after much of the UK and Ireland was battered with torrential rain and gusts by Storm Claudia.
A cold weather warning has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency for the Midlands, North West and North East England from Monday and will remain in place until 8am on Friday.
A minimum temperature of -7C was recorded overnight in Tulloch Bridge, Scotland, marking the coldest night in the UK since last March.
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In other parts, warmer wetter conditions will be soon replaced by a ‘cold northerly flow’ from the Arctic, meteorologist Dan Holley explained.
He said: ‘This will bring much colder conditions than of late and, whilst generally drier than recent days, there will also be a risk of wintry hazards, such as snow and ice.
‘There will be widespread frosts across the UK, with temperatures dipping as low as minus 7C in places next week, and daytime temperatures staying in single figures across the country.
‘Couple this with a brisk northerly wind, and there will be a marked wind chill. This will be a notable change in our weather after a prolonged spell of above-average temperatures.’
It comes as a major incident was declared in Monmouth, South Wales where dozens of residents were evacuated from flooded homes.
Significant rain brought disruption to businesses, transport and energy infrastructure.
Peter Fox, the Conservative Senedd member for the area, said the situation was ‘extremely bad’ and he hadn’t seen anything like it for decades.
‘I personally haven’t seen it so bad for probably 40 years, certainly in Monmouth since defences were put in place there’, he said.
Evacuated residents were supported by Red Cross volunteers at a local leisure centre.
In Monnow, river levels were higher than those reported following Storm Dennis in 2020 and Storm Bert last year.
Parts of England were also hit badly by the storm, with at least 20 homes flooded including in north as Cumbria, the Environment Agency reported.
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