Britain could face coldest spell since 1991 with more snow on the way

Snow has caused disruption across Britain and forecasters have warned more is on the way, with the country potentially facing the coldest weather since 1991.

A wintry blast, dubbed "the Beast from the East", has brought freezing temperatures, with more than 20cm of snow expected to settle by Wednesday.

Forecasters have warned that another weather system, Storm Emma, will bring blizzards, gales and sleet.

The storm will move north through Europe and is due to hit the UK on Thursday and Friday.

Met Office forecaster Frank Saunders said: "Parts of England and Wales are likely to see their coldest spell of weather since at least 2013, and possibly since 1991.

"This could lead to dangerous conditions on roads and pavements and have an impact on people's health."

Storm Emma will be "significantly disruptive" with the risk of power cuts and transport delays.

Lows of minus 6C were recorded in Aviemore, Scotland, overnight Sunday into Monday.

Doctors have warned that the NHS could struggle to cope with the extra strain caused by the weather.

People are being warned to check on elderly or vulnerable neighbours during the cold spell.

The public have also been asked to look out for the homeless and report anyone sleeping rough in the freezing conditions to their local council.

Amber warnings of snow have been issued by the Met Office for north-east, central and south-eastern England on Tuesday, and eastern Scotland on Wednesday.

It warned that some rural communities could become cut off, with power outages and disruption to mobile phone services likely.

By the middle of the week, the majority of Britain is being warned of the potential for delays on the roads, trains and in the air.

A less severe yellow warning for snow is in place from Monday to Thursday.

Temperatures of minus 5C (23F) over the weekend were the lowest recorded in the week leading up to March 1 - the first day of spring - since 1986.

The wind chill, which could see parts of the UK feeling as cold as minus 15C (5F), rivals the temperatures forecast for parts of northern Norway and Iceland.

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Rachael Burnett, Press Association');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'd85e5769-3cbe-43f3-a67e-9d115fb9d4c5');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:news,paservice:news:uk');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', null);ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Britain could face coldest spell since 1991 with more snow on the way'});