Snow has fallen in parts of south-west England and Wales as temperatures dropped below freezing ahead of the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Two inches settled on the ground in North Wyke, just north of Dartmoor overnight, while nearly 3in was recorded in Sennybridge, Powys, on Thursday morning.
Temperatures dropped to lows of -1.2°C in Okehampton, west Devon.
Forecasters are warning of a weekend of unsettled weather, with yellow weather warnings issued by the Met Office for wind and rain.
Gusts of up to 74mph have hit parts of the southern coast of England thanks to Spanish-named Storm Nelson.
Forecasters said an area of rain, sleet and hill snow is moving north across the UK as holidaymakers prepare for the Easter getaway and a 74mph gust was recorded in Berry Head, Devon, this morning.
A yellow weather warning issued for Northern Ireland is in effect until 3am Friday for Country Antrim and County Down.
The wind warning for England is expected to last until 6pm on Thursday, covering London, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Southampton and West Sussex.
Bournemouth, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the Isles of Scilly, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay are also warned to expect high winds.
Temperatures are expected to turn milder with 10°C expected in England on Good Friday, rising to a high of 13°C on Saturday and Easter Sunday.
Oli Claydon of the Met Office said: “There is still a chance of some snow over the Scottish hills as the weather front moves northwards.
“The weather story now really turns into an area of low pressure that’s going to bring some very strong wind and rain.”
It comes after the wettest 18 months on record for the UK and the wet weather is set to continue and scupper plans for Brits looking to enjoy time off work.
Despite winter season coming to an end, it appears it may be too early to pack away the winter coats.
An Arctic blast is expected to set in following the Bank Holiday weekend, knocking temperatures below the usual springtime double-digit degrees.
Long-range forecasts from WXCharts show the blast of cold air from the Arctic arriving on Wednesday next week, following the Easter period.
Scotland and northern England are set to be hit the worst by the icy weather with the forecaster warning temperatures could plunge to -3°C in Fort Augustus in Scotland and around the Highlands.
The poor weather is also likely to exacerbate predicted travel chaos over the Easter weekend. More than 14 million journeys are expected on UK roads over the holiday period which leads into a two-week half-term break for schools.
The RAC is already warning travellers of “carmageddon”, warning that “lengthy queues can be expected along routes to the usual hotspots”. Network Rail is also scheduled to carry out engineering works between London Euston and Milton Keynes on the West Coast Main Line over the four-day weekend, potentially ruling out train travel for some. The line stretches from the capital to Scotland.
Laurence Bowman, Network Rail’s network strategy director, said there was “never a good time to do the work we need to do”.
He said the lower number of commuters over the bank holiday weekend, however, gives them “the opportunity to do major work we couldn’t do in a normal weekend”.
