Hopes of a sunny Easter break have been washed away as Britain braces itself for a week of wind, rain and even snow.
The country was hit by torrential rain and gale-force winds yesterday, and the miserable weather is set to continue.
Forecasters have predicted Easter Sunday itself will be dry – but still cold and cloudy.
Temperatures will plunge to a low of -1C overnight and up to 5cm of snow could fall on higher ground in northern England and Scotland.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for ice across the top half of Britain and has said there is “potential for hazardous driving conditions”.
Met Office forecaster Charles Powell said it has been wet and windy and “it is not going to get that much better soon”.
He said: “We could see one or two icy stretches in northern parts of the UK. That’s because we will see temperatures dropping down to maybe -1C across Scotland and the northern half of the UK.”
Wintry snow showers are expected to hit Scotland today while the rest of Britain will be hit by lashing rain and strong winds.
Mr Powell said: “It will be quite heavy rain. The band of rain will sweep through the West and parts of Wales and Cumbria will see the most rain.
“It will hit southern areas in the mid afternoon. We will see winds picking up again with gales quite widespread across much of the UK.
“They will reach around 50mph and in a couple of places we could see winds of around 60mph, especially in the West.”
Strong winds and showers will continue in the middle of the week before calming down on Friday.
While the weather is gloomy, there is a glimmer of hope as Britain should enjoy a respite from the wind and rain on Saturday and Easter Sunday itself.
But he warned that the earliest Britain will see decent sunshine is Easter Monday.
Mr Powell said: “It looks like the rain will by and large clear at the weekend, but it will be quite cloudy. It looks like a dry weekend with winds, but it probably won’t be bright.
“People can head outside and do things and travel around a bit more safely.
“But I’m not going to promise a huge amount of sunshine because I think there will be quite a lot of cloud. But it will be quite a marked change from this weekend.”