Arctic blast to bring strong winds to much of the UK

A large swathe of the UK will be hit by an Artic blast bringing strong winds, snow and ice in a chilly end to the month.

The Met Office has issued five weather warnings for the last weekend of January, with the chance of power cuts and travel disruption.

A spell of "very strong northerly winds", is expected to affect the east coast of England and southern Scotland and the west coast of England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Gusts of 50-55mph are expected to develop over Saturday night across northern Ireland and move across Wales and parts of western England before easing during Sunday.

Large waves and slightly stronger gusts are likely to pound the east coast from 8am on Sunday until the evening.

Hilly and coastal areas are forecast to experience the strongest winds.

The Met Office said delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport were likely and that there could be power cuts.

Forecaster Luke Miall said the weekend would be one of "two halves", with Sunday feeling noticeably colder than Saturday.

He said: "We will see quite a blast of strong, northerly winds coming down from the Arctic.

"It's going to be very windy but it's also going to turn much colder."

He added: "That northerly wind is just going to cut straight through, so its real temperature on the thermometer will probably say 4-7C, but when you add on the wind it's going to feel sub-zero."

On Saturday, up to 10-15cm (4-6in) of snow could accumulate on the highest ground across the far north of Scotland as heavy rain turns to snow.

Much of northern Scotland is expected to see snow and ice from 6pm on Saturday to midday on Sunday, with possible blizzards on areas of high ground.

A further warning is in place for the North East, which may see some icy stretches between 1am and 11am on Sunday.