Ice warning in place as temperatures dip

The ice warning from forecasters comes into force at 1am on Saturday and continues until 11am.

It affects the Highlands, Grampian, Strathclyde, South West Scotland, Lothian and Borders, Central Tayside and Fife, North East England, North West England, the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.

The spell of cold weather will see a band of rain and snow move into parts of UK overnight and into Saturday.

Forecasters say on high ground in Scotland and across the higher Pennine routes there may also be up to 3cm of snow in places.

But the main hazards are more likely to come from ice when the rain falls on frozen ground.

Charles Powell, forecaster at the Met Office, said: ''The yellow weather warning begins at 1am and goes into Saturday morning.

It'll be quite a bit colder and to complicate things we have a weather system coming in from the west and there is likely to be a small amount of snow on the Pennine routes.

But there's some risk of ice with it. On Saturday after a cold start, most places will be cold and damp.''

The forecaster said although it was a cold start with temperatures between 4C and 6C.

For the rest of the UK it is expected to be cloudy and damp, although the east of England will have a dry and cold start to the day.

Mr Powell added: ''Saturday and Sunday will be like chalk and cheese, but it's a real wintry start for the weekend and into next week.''