TEMPERATURES plunged to minus 11C today as Britain shivered in bitterly cold conditions ahead of a spell of snow this weekend.
Birmingham and the rest of the Midlands are braced for possible snow on Saturday afternoon.
Across Europe, there are severely low temperatures such as minus 14C in Berlin, minus 17C in Prague, minus 8C in Paris, minus 13C in Stockholm and minus 20C in Warsaw.
A gallery of latest weather pictures is included below, along with our five-day forecast.
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A polar bear enjoys the fresh snow in the zoo in Berlin, Germany.
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Monkeys flatten themselves each other to protect themselves against the cold in a snow at at zoo in Oita, southern Japan.
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Highland cattle stand on the frozen ground in Millington Pastures, Pocklington, East Yorkshire.
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Walkers make their way over the frozen ground in Millington Pastures, Pocklington, East Yorkshire as freezing weather continues to hit the UK.
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Snow covered bicycles lie on the ground in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
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Trees covered in ice and snow in Rubi, Spain.
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A man walks down a street in Ukraine's capital, Kiev.
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A well-wrapped pug dog strolls on a street in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
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Airport technicians de-ice a Boeing 737 of Air Berlin at minus 15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit) at Dresden airport, eastern Germany.
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Pedestrians walk along a tree-lined street in Vilnius, Lithuania.
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A man walks as snow and frozen wind billows cross the region, in Roncesvalles, northern Spain.
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A woman braces to enter the water for a swim in the Mediterranean sea in Nice, southeastern France in sunny weather with a morning temperature of 6 Celsius, 43 Fahrenheit.
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A frozen gargoyle in a fountain in Zurich, Switzerland, with its watery flow turned into an icy beard.
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Highland cattle stand on the frozen ground in Millington Pastures, Pocklington, East Yorkshire.
Chesham in Buckinghamshire recorded a temperature of minus 11C at 5am, and forecasters expect a maximum of 2C across the UK during the day.
It comes after the Met Office raised fears for the elderly and ill by issuing its first country-wide Level 3 Cold Weather Alert of the winter.
The alert, which is the second most serious, is tied in to the Government's Cold Weather Plan and are relayed to organisations such as Age UK, which help the elderly through winter.
This Weather Widget is provided by the Met Office |
Meanwhile, severe weather warnings are in place until Sunday, with icy conditions expected in parts of the England today and snow forecast in Wales, south-west Scotland and much of England tomorrow.
Tom Tobler, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association said: "Most places will see temperatures of no more than 1C or 2C today and a few won't get above zero.
