Hundreds of schools across the UK have been forced to close as temperatures plummeted to -11C in the Scottish Highlands. The Met Office has issued yellow ice warnings with UKHSA health alerts in place until Saturday morning Chaos (Image: Ian Forsyth, Getty Images)

The mercury plummeted to minus 11C overnight as Britain's arctic blast persisted, with health warnings remaining in force for another day. The Met Office confirmed the bone-chilling reading was taken at Loch Glascarnoch in the Scottish Highlands, whilst temperatures dropped below minus 7C across vast swathes of the nation.

England and Wales experienced somewhat less severe conditions, with lows of minus 6C recorded at Trawsgoed in Ceredigion, Wales, and minus 4C at Rostherne, Cheshire.

Weather expert Simon Partridge e

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