Brits are being told to expect slightly warmer weather next week (Picture: PA /MET Office)
The snowy end is in sight with the UK set for milder temperatures and rain after a white weekend.
After a blanket of snow covers Britain on Saturday and Sunday the cold snap will finally come to an end with milder air raising the mercury.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice covering the majority of Scotland, Wales, the north of England and the Midlands from 3am to 9pm on Sunday.
Another warning for snow and ice will also cover most of the south of England from 3am until 11am on Sunday.
Severe weather has caused major disruption across the UK in the last week. Parts of the UK have been completely covered in snow causing travel chaos on the roads and even closing airports.
A temperature of -17.3°C was recorded in Braemar, Aberdeenshire on Monday into Tuesday, breaking this year’s lowest temperature record again.
Thousands of schools across the UK were shut for two days earlier this week due to the widespread snow and ice, with people warned to ‘stay at home’ in combination with national rail strikes.
The Met Office has warned of travel delays and said there is a risk some communities could be cut off amid power cuts.
Temperatures are going to get milder over the weekend (Picture: Met Office/Metro.co.uk)
Cars were covered in snow in parts of Glasgow this morning (Picture: PA)
Parts of the north-east were covered in snow (Picture: NNP)
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Engineers have warned some people on Shetland could be without power until the weekend as they work to reconnect thousands who have endured their fourth day without power after significant snowfall.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has said progress is slow, with 1,700 homes still without power on Thursday night.
It has warned that some homes will not be reconnected until next week – seven days after they lost power.
The heavy snow is disrupting travel in central Scotland where an amber weather warning is in force.
The Met Office has said that 5cm-10cm of snow could fall in some places in two to three hours, and that travel delays and power cuts are likely in some areas.
The Scottish Government declared a major incident on Tuesday after thousands of homes lost power in Shetland on Monday afternoon as heavy snow brought down lines.
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Traffic Scotland said on Friday morning that snow is affecting many major trunk roads and urged people to drive with care.
Teams from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution reconnected about 750 homes and businesses in parts of western mainland Shetland, Voe and Brae on Thursday.
Speaking late on Thursday evening, Mark Macdonald, head of region at SSEN Distribution, said: ‘I’d like to thank customers for their ongoing patience and reassure them that we’re making every effort to restore supplies as soon as possible and provide support to those who need it.
‘Armies of engineers have descended upon Shetland over the past 48 hours to restore power to homes and businesses across the islands, and more are on their way.
‘We’ve made significant progress today (Thursday) in continued challenging conditions, reconnecting 750 homes across the islands.’
SSEN said it is expects to continue making progress over the next 48 hours and is targeting the restoration of the large majority of supplies by Sunday.
Caroline Ritchie, 42, lives in Mossbank with her husband Eric and two sons, Eric, eight, and Tommy, six, and were one of many families who went days without power.
It meant they were unable to heat their homes, cook hot food and use electrical items.
Mrs Ritchie said the family decided to move into a hotel on Wednesday night for warmth as her son Eric is disabled and on antibiotics.
Caroline Ritchie, from Mossbank, with two son as she described ‘living in hell’ for days after a power outage in Shetland (Picture: PA)
Engineers have been working on the outage all week (Picture: PA)
Mrs Ritchie’s home that was covered entirely in snow (Picture: PA)
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But after three days of no power they moved back into their home on Thursday afternoon after it was restored.
She said: ‘We booked for two [nights] but power came back sooner, so we just came home and asked the hotel to offer our room for tonight to someone else with no power.
‘It was two-and-a-half days of pure hell.’
She added: ‘On Monday we started to get a bit of heavy snow and then about tea time the power went out.
‘I checked online and it said they would hope to get it fixed by 11pm that night, and then it updated to say 11am the next morning.
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‘It’s never been this bad. We moved up here 13 years ago and it’s never been this bad the whole time we’ve been here.
‘We’ve lost power occasionally, the longest we’ve gone without it is maybe overnight till the next morning and that’s been it.
‘But we’ve been three days without it.’
She added: ‘The spirit in the community have been really high, you’ve got folk who have 4×4 cars who can get through the snow and they have been doing runs to the far away shops.
‘You’ve got some people who do have power that have been inviting people into their homes, offering to cook dinner, make a cup of tea or charge their phones and so too a lot of the local halls, with the big power generators who can also do the same.
‘There are so many folk that have pulled together, I’m originally from Glasgow, me and my husband were saying that you would not get this down the road, the amount of folk pulling together to help each other.
‘Even strangers, if they had power or a gas stove, they would bring you in and help you in any way they can.’
‘It was so cold, you could wear layers and layers, you could breathe and literally see your own breath in your house, it was so cold,’ she said.
The freezing weather has also caused travel chaos this week (Picture: Fraser Gray/Shutterstock)
The cold snap is expected to come to an end after the weekend (Picture: PA)
Tynemouth beach was covered with snow (Picture: NNP)
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Met Office meteorologist Ellie Wilson said: ‘A band of rain and snow is going to be moving northeastwards across the country through Sunday.
‘It’s bringing milder air behind it, but that milder air bumps into the cold air that’s where we’re seeing where the snow is likely to fall.’
Ms Wilson said there could be up to 8cm (3in) over Wales and 15cm in the north of Scotland.
She added: ‘Because of the current cold conditions that we’ve seen, any of that snowfall will be falling onto cold frozen surfaces so there is a risk of ice here through the morning.
Ms Wilson said temperatures on Sunday afternoon onwards will be ‘on the rise’ and will likely hit 9 -10C in the west and have risen to 11-13C across the UK on Monday.
A Met Office yellow warning for snow and ice remains in place across much of northern Scotland, including Shetland, and northeast England, Yorkshire and Humber until 11.59pm on Thursday.
Another yellow weather warning for snow and ice covering Shetland and Orkney kicks in at 12am on Friday and will be in place until 10am.
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People are being warned to expect a covering of snow before milder temperatures next week.
