Scotland shivered under the coldest night of the year so far as the temperature plunged to minus 16.7C in the Scottish Highlands.
With as snow and ice continuing to cause disruption across the UK, the low temperature at Altnaharra was recorded early on Tuesday morning and is the coldest temperature recorded there since 2010.
Met Office spokesperson Nicola Maxey said temperatures could plunge further on Wednesday night into Thursday, but that conditions across the UK are set to get milder towards the weekend.
READ MORE: Storm Darcy blankets Glasgow in snow
Ms Maxey said: “There’s still a risk of snow anywhere down the eastern side of the UK,” she said. “We’re in these cold easterly winds.
“The cold air crosses from Russia and eastern Europe, crosses the sea, picks up some moisture then when it hits the land you see rain or because the air’s so cold you see snow.”
Highland cows weather the storm in Denny
Some snow is likely to continue through Tuesday and Wednesday but “more showery rather than large accumulations”, she said.
Ms Maxey said the UK had a “glancing blow from the northern edge” of Storm Darcy, which crossed northern Europe and was named by the Dutch weather service.
She said Storm Darcy pulled away from the UK on Monday.
Not everyone was dismayed by the snow
Temperatures will widely be below freezing overnight across the country and in low single figures in the daytime on Tuesday and Wednesday, she said.
READ MORE: Snowboarder takes to the streets as blizzards blanket city
“It certainly looks as though towards the end of the weekend we might see daytime temperatures move up a little bit,” said Ms Maxey.
“So less cold, but expectations are that Wednesday into Thursday might be the coldest night of the spell so far and then we see things pick up a little bit.”
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