Expect snow as Britain is set to freeze this week with temperatures expected to fall as low as -10 in some parts of Scotland.

Cold weather systems will blow in from Scandinavia and Russia on Tuesday causing temperatures to fall substantially, bringing widespread snow and frosts in Scotland and the North East before heading south.

The Met Office predicts that there will be snow in the South East by the end of the week and London will get its first snow of the winter on Thursday.

Forecasters last night warned that there could be up to six inches of snow in some areas as winter gets off to a particularly cold start.

Met Office spokesman Alex Fox said: “At the moment temperatures are about average but over the next few days this will definitely get colder.”

“We will still see showers, although not heavy rain, on Monday and Tuesday in some parts of the country. But by the end of the week this could have turned to snow hitting the south by late Wednesday, early Thursday and staying until the weekend.”