Is it finally set to get milder, as cold weather alert ends Saturday?

The UK is braced for another cold and frosty night ahead as temperatures once again plummet underneath clear skies, especially for England and Wales.

Lows on Friday night are expected to drop to minus five or six once again across parts of central southern England, including Oxfordshire and the Salisbury Plain accompanied by freezing fog, with possible last minute fog warnings being issued overnight into Saturday.

Temperatures for most of Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be as cold as the rest of the British Isle thanks to the amount of cloud pushing in from the Atlantic.

It comes as the Met Office on Thursday issued another Level 3 Cold Weather Alert for the whole of England. It's been issued as there is high confidence (90%) that temperatures will remain in low single figures by day and drop below freezing overnight, especially on Friday night.

The alert, valid form 9am Thursday 26th to Saturday 12pm 28th January states "this [cold] weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services."

The cold weather alert is a service provided just for England and is in association with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

We've had a number of cold snaps so far this winter. Typically these are expected more so between January and February when the land and sea is at its coldest. However with one more month of meteorological winter to go could February see something not as cold?

As we move through the weekend and into next week, temperatures are expected to recover for the UK, trending back to something more normal for the time of year. Frosts will become less wide spread and patchier and more likely to occupy valleys and glens overnight.

As for the first week of February, high pressure looks to dominate the southern half of the UK with jet stream steering low pressure centres across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This set up will help to keep overnight frosts at bay with temperatures rising into high single figures and low double digits through much of February with less likelihood of further colder spells.

Every day now the sun continues to gain strength as the days get progressively longer and we more towards Spring. But let's not count our chickens before they hatch, after all there's still one more month of meteorological winter left.