'Significant impacts' - Amber cold-health alert issued for Sussex and Surrey

An Arctic airmass ‘continues to cover the UK’, bringing cold conditions with snow, sleet and hail showers. Temperatures dropped to -10.9°C at Shap in Cumbria on Sunday night, with numerous Met Office stations ‘well below freezing’.

A new amber cold weather health alert – for the South East of England – is in place until midday on Sunday, January 11.

The updated UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) alert – which came in force at 10am on Tuesday (January 6)– reads: “Forecast weather is expected to have significant impacts across health and social care services, including a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. We may also see impacts on younger age groups.”

There will also be a ‘likely increase in demand for health services’, the UKHSA said.

Temperatures inside hospitals, care homes, and clinics are expected to ‘drop below the levels recommended for assessing health risks’.

There will also be ‘challenges keeping indoor temperatures at the recommended 18°C’, which will lead to a greater risk for vulnerable people.

The risk description also pointed towards staffing issues – ‘due to external factors, such as travel delays’ – and ‘other sectors starting to observe impacts, such as transport and energy’.

A yellow Met Office warning will come into force for Sussex at midnight – with icy patches overnight and possible disruption on Wednesday (January 7).

People are urged to take care, amid the risk of ‘some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces’.

The Met Office warned there will be ‘probably some icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths’.

The government agency added: “Following a band of precipitation which clears southeast overnight, clear skies will develop for many areas on Tuesday night will lead to icy patches on untreated wet surfaces. This could lead to some minor disruption especially on Wednesday morning.”

Further into the week, according to the Met Office, ‘there are signs’ that strong winds and heavy rain ‘may bring additional hazards to the impactful weather across the UK’. There is ‘some uncertainty’ over the position of a low pressure system which is ‘important in understanding the potential weather hazards it may bring’.

BBC Weather’s latest forecast for Sussex reads: “Today will be a dry day, with large areas of cloud drifting by at times, but also some wintry sunny breaks in between.

“This evening will turn breezier and cloudier, and into the early night a band of rain will sweep in from the north-west, turning wintry in a few spots. Skies clearing later.

“Tomorrow will see a dry day and there will once again be some areas of cloud around, but wintry sunny spells too. Staying breezy through the day.

“Thursday will be a cloudy day with outbreaks of rain moving in through the afternoon. Rain will turn to snow overnight and it will turn windy.

"Friday will start cloudy with rain and snow clearing to the east. It will turn drier in the afternoon with some sunny spells developing. Saturday will be dry with sunny spells.”

The Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist, Mike Silverstone, said it is ‘important to stay up to date’ with the weather forecast through the week.

He added: “While we’re confident an area of low pressure will move in from the west on Thursday and into Friday, the exact position of that low pressure is uncertain at this stage. The position is important as it will determine the type of severe weather different locations may experience.

“The most likely scenario at this stage is for low pressure to track near the south coast. Near and south of the low, heavy rain and strong winds are more likely, whilst snow could accumulate to the north as it encounters cold air. As confidence increases in the track of the low pressure, so will the detail of the weather impacts.”

For the latest weather-related news across Sussex, see: www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/weather