UKHSA issues five yellow 'risk to life' warnings for cold weather

The UK Health Security Agency has issued nine health alerts for next week as cold weather heads for the UK - five of them at the higher 'yellow' level. The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice across parts of the UK next week.

Up to 20cm of snow is possible on higher ground on Monday and Tuesday, with a small chance of up to 10cm of snow settling at lower levels, which could prove disruptive, the Met Office said.

The warning covers much of southern Scotland and north-east England, parts of Yorkshire, and parts of the north-west of England, including Lancashire and Cumbria, and is in force from 10am on Monday until 10am on Tuesday.

A separate warning for snow and ice is in place in northern Scotland from 4pm on Sunday until 11am on Monday.

The UKHSA has issued yellow alerts for the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands - with green alerts for the East of England, London, South East and South West.

The yellow alerts mean forecast weather is likely to have impacts on health and social care services, including increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people and a greater risk to life of vulnerable people.

The alerts run from 9pm on November 17 to 9am on November 21. Green alerts - issued for the same time, mean there is potential for minor impacts across health and social care services.

Tom Morgan, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “The really cold air is likely to arrive next week and there will be some snow in parts of the UK. There’ll be a messy mixture of rain, sleet and snow.

“And also quite windy conditions, probably on Monday, in parts of the UK, but all areas will turn cold with wintry showers probably by Wednesday. If you’ve got travel plans next week, it’s worth making sure your car is all geared up for winter conditions.”

Mr Morgan added: “It is fairly unusual in the south. It’s quite early in the month for a cold spell such as this. We often have rapid changes in the weather in the UK, the main reason for the big change next week is a sudden change in the orientation of the jet stream.

“At this point, anywhere in the UK has a chance of seeing snow and ice and frost by night, particularly from mid-week onwards.”

So far this November, temperatures in the UK have been above average in general, as parts of the North West were hit with thick fog on Thursday. Pictures showed Blackpool Tower covered in fog with only the tip of the 158-metre building poking out above a blanket of mist.

Mr Morgan said: “Usually at this time of year, fog is slow to clear because we have very short days and the sun’s at its weakest point. So there’s not much heating of the ground and it’s the heating that usually disperses the fog, so we’ve seen some areas not really improve.

“The main reason (for the fog) is high pressure, light winds, a temperature inversion and stagnation of the air allowing that fog to form overnight and not clear in the day.”

According to the Met Office website, a temperature inversion is a phenomenon in which it gets hotter the higher up in the atmosphere one goes.