UK weather forecast: FREEZING air as cold weather front and FOG descends on Britain

A COLD front will sweep across the north today, plunging temperatures down to single digits, with a daytime maximum of 10 degrees in some areas, according to the Met Office.

Meanwhile, the south will face a “misty and murky” day with patches of fog.

Meteorologist Alex Deakin said: “Your Friday morning picture splits into three.

“In southern areas it's quite mild but also misty and murky with a few fog patches.

“Further north it’s much brighter, some blue sky, but its cold. In between we have some outbreaks of rain.”

Across the far north, the northern and western isles, there will be some showers but for the bulk of Scotland and Northern Ireland it will be a bright and chilly start, with some sun.

As the day continues, conditions will remain largely the same.

There will be a band of cloud bringing outbreaks of rain across northern England and Wales, but the south will stay relatively dry.

This band of cloud across the central area is a weather front, separating the relatively mild south from the wintry north.

uk weather forecast

Temperatures will plummet to much lower than yesterday as cold weather front arrives (Image: WXCHARTS & GETTY)

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Meteorologist Alex Deaki showing the temperatures in the UK at 3pm Friday (Image: MET OFFICE)

In the south, the mist and fog will slowly fade away to sunshine and the north will see a mixture of sunny spells and blustery showers, particularly in the far north.

The starkest difference however, is in the temperatures with the north around 10 degrees cooler than southern areas.

Mr Deakin said: “Where we see some sunshine we are on the warm side of this weather front and temperatures could reach 20, 21 degrees Celsius.

“But this is a cold front so behind it it introduces cold air and temperatures here are significantly lower than Thursday’s values - highs of 11 or 12 celsius at best.

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The UK braces for cold weather and fog patches (Image: GETTY)

“And feeling pretty cool if you’re stuck under that cloud and rain which will continue through Friday evening, a bit damp and drizzly there.”

On Friday night the rain will start to intensify which, according to Deakin, is a “sign of things to come”, as the rain will get bigger and more intense as the weekend arrives.

On Saturday, the south should expect cloudy conditions, with many places “fairly soggy”, but further north it will be bright with some sunshine, but cold.

On Sunday, these switch around, with the southern areas looking much brighter and sunnier, and the north seeing some cloud and rain spilling in from the west.