Britain braces for eight inches of snow, -5C temperatures and 50mph gales ... but it should warm up by the weekend

• Temperatures fell to -5C in England overnight bringing frost, before sleet and snow arrives from West
• It will stay cold for next few days before conditions slightly warm up into weekend when it could hit 14C
• Forecasters issued snow warning for Scotland and northern England, effective from midday today
• Gales of up to 50mph could develop in the South West tomorrow before moving along the Channel

Winter is sweeping into Britain today with widespread snowfall up to eight inches deep threatening travel chaos.

Temperatures fell to -5C (23F) in England overnight bringing frost, before sleet and snow arrives from the West.

It will stay cold for the next few days before conditions slightly warm up into the weekend when it could hit 14C. 

The first flakes will hit Scotland this afternoon, before moving south to the Pennines - and Sheffield and Leeds.

Temperatures will be around -1C (30F) to freezing overnight, up from a low of -6.6C (20F) overnight yesterday.

Leeds and Sheffield could have up to 8in (20cm) of snowfall, according to the Met Office.

But lower lying parts of Yorkshire and Cheshire could see around 10cm (3.9in) of snow settling overnight.

Forecasters have issued a snow warning covering much of Scotland and northern England, effective from midday.

Inclement conditions will stay until tomorrow morning’s rush hour as a band of wintry weather moves eastwards.

Drivers are being urged to take care as snow falls to lower levels tonight over parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands.

Up to 3in (8cm) is possible in hilly areas above 650ft (200m), while as much as 6in (15cm) could fall above 1,000ft.

Meanwhile gales of up to 50mph could develop in the South West tomorrow before moving along the Channel.

Pershore in the West Midlands saw temperatures fall to - 5C (23F) overnight, which was the UK minimum.

Much of northern England saw readings of freezing (32F) while 2C (37F) was widely observed in the South.

Today temperatures are expected to reach a maximum of 8C (46F) in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

They will get to 5C (41F) in northern England, 7C (45F) in southern England and 11C (52F) in the South West.

Freezing temperatures and frost are then expected to return as the wintry weather clears to the east overnight.

And there will be a return to similar daytime figures tomorrow, before temperatures rise a little into the weekend.

Met Office forecaster Emma Sillitoe said a frontal system moving from the West will meet the recent cold weather.

She said: ‘We've had a few wintry showers but this is the first event where more people are going to be affected.’

Ms Sillitoe also warned of a risk of difficult driving conditions on high routes over the Pennines and in Scotland.

And she said people will have to scrape frost from windscreens so it will be 'quite slow getting out and about'.