Met Office snow and ice warnings extended until Friday as thousands are still without power

Weather warnings for snow and ice have been extended until Friday as a cold snap continues to grip the UK.

People have been warned of further travel chaos due to the freezing conditions after thousands of residents were left without power and temperatures hit -17.3°C were recorded.

The Met Office has issued amber warnings for ice in south-west and north-east England and parts of Northern Ireland, with a snow and ice warning in northern Scotland and parts of north-east England.

A serious incident was reported by the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room for Shetland on Tuesday after thousands of homes were left without power due to falling temperatures.

Police urged people to stay at home as an arctic cold hit and Keith Brown, senior minister for resilience in the Scottish Government, warned many households could face days without power.

Utility company SSEN Distribution is working to restore power to about 2,800 homes but warned full recovery is unlikely before the end of next week.

People walk in a snow-covered park in London on Monday, December 12, 2022. Snow and ice have swept across parts of the UK and cold wintry conditions will persist for days to come. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) — Snow has covered much of the country this week, including London (Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

RAC undated handout photo of one of their workers dealing with a car breakdown in wintry conditions. Vehicle breakdowns hit record highs across the UK on Monday due to freezing conditions. The RAC said it had received around 12,000 calls from stranded motorists. Issue date: Tuesday December 13, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story WEATHER ColdBreakdowns. Photo credit should read: RAC/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may be used for editorial reporting purposes only to simultaneously illustrate events, things or people in the photo or facts mentioned in the photo caption. Reuse of the image may require further permission from the copyright owner. — The RAC experienced its busiest day ever for operations on Monday, responding to 12,000 stranded drivers (Photo: RAC Provider/ PA)

A woman’s body was found near an outhouse after heavy snowfall in the area on Tuesday, but it’s not known if her death was weather-related.

Met Office spokeswoman Becky White said the prolonged cold snap could result in up to 10cm of fresh snow falling on higher ground.

“We could see a few inches of new snow accumulation,” she said. “We could see about 1-4 cm at lower elevations and 5-10 cm at higher elevations throughout the highlands.”

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The Quicksilver is tipped to plunge to -3°C in parts of Scotland today, with London having temperatures as low as -1°C

Snow and ice warnings are in place in the south west until 10am on Wednesday and midday on Friday in many areas of northern Scotland and parts of north east England.

There is also a weather warning for ice in other areas of the north east including Yorkshire & Humber, East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire from midday to midday on Wednesday.

Blackheath Common in Greenwich covered in snow. Snow and ice have swept across parts of the UK and cold wintry conditions will persist for days to come. Picture date: Tuesday December 13, 2022. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire — Cold winter conditions in the UK will continue for days to come (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)

Dozens of schools across the UK were forced to close for the second day in a row on Tuesday due to wintry conditions.

Councils from Aberdeenshire to Cambridgeshire reported school closures with heating outages, burst pipes and snow and ice forcing students to stay home.

In Sheffield, engineers said they had just over 100 homes left to be reconnected to gas as of Tuesday night, after nearly 2,000 homes in the city lost service 11 days earlier when a burst water main left the local gas network with more than filled a million liters of water.