Health services on alert as weekend of snow and freezing rain is forecast across Britain

Temperatures across the UK have plunged to -8C (17.6F) as the country shivers under an arctic chill expected to bring widespread heavy snow and freezing rain over the weekend.

- Jessica Murray

Yesterday morning, the Met Office raised its weather warning for snow and ice from yellow to amber for much of northern and central England over the weekend, meaning power cuts and travel delays are expected and rural communities could become cut off.

A baby boy was killed in a crash on Thursday night when a car hit a tree on the A1 near Grantham in Lincolnshire, and police are investigating whether the incident was linked to icy conditions on the carriageway.

The baby, who was seven months old, was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead just after 5am, Lincolnshire police said. A woman travelling in the same car suffered serious injuries and two other passengers were not seriously injured.

The lowest temperature of the cold snap so far was recorded in Benson in Oxfordshire, where it was -8.1C yesterday morning, while temperatures dropped to -7.5C in Shap, Cumbria, and -6.7C at Bournemouth airport.

In Scotland, the lowest recorded temperature was -6.4C in Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway.