Temperatures fall into freezing across parts of the UK and Ireland later in the week, prompting the first cold-health alerts of the season.

From Thursday, the alerts will be live for the West Midlands and North West of England. Overnight lows will be particularly wintry and produce ground frost in many areas.

In rural areas, lows may drop to around -5°C, with widespread sub-zero nights. The current alerts, issued by the UK Health Security Agency, will expire on Saturday.

A switch to northerly winds is partly responsible, with wintry showers bringing snow to parts of Scotland. Staying dry, and sunny for many, despite the cold temperatures elsewhere.

There have been many reports on the polar vortex causing a harsher winter, the vortex is weakening but there is no sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event underway.

An SSW in 2018 preceeded the infamous "Beast from the East" which resulted in heavy snowfall across the UK and Ireland.