he With office issued a yellow alert for the capital and south-east this weekend as the bitter cold draws to a close.
According to the Met Office, a period of rain and snow on frozen surfaces will cause icy conditions London and the southeast in the early hours of Sunday.
Because of these icy conditions a yellow weather warning was issued from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Londoners have been warned of travel delays and treacherous road conditions.
Commenting on the weather, Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said: “So some not great conditions on Sunday.
“We will see heavy rain follow and we will also see very strong winds.
“So yes, it’s getting milder, but we have potential problems through Sunday through rain, maybe wind, but definitely snow and ice as well.”
The agency said earlier that in many places daytime temperatures will struggle to rise above freezing, but snow will gradually ease in south east England.
On Saturday, the temperature in London will rise to 5°C.
Forecasters predict temperatures will remain at 1°C at 8am before rising gradually throughout the day to reach a high of 10°C on Sunday evening.
Moving on next week, however, the Met Office predicts that temperatures will warm up, reaching 13C on Monday. A welcome relief after the capital sank to a low of -4C on Wednesday evening.
As for whether London could have a white Christmas, the Met Office hasn’t ruled out the event – which is rare by modern standards. The most recent time the UK had a significant (40 percent) number of weather stations reporting snow on December 25 was in 2010.
However, the agency said it can only make a forecast about five days in advance, meaning Londoners may get their first indication on Tuesday.
The Met Office has said snow or sleet falls on average 3.9 days in December, compared to 5.3 days in January, 5.6 days in February and 4.2 days in March – meaning there’s a relatively equal chance each year on a white Easter because there is a white Christmas.