A cold weather alert has been issued in a number of regions as the Met Office warns "unsettled weather", including snow, is on the way. The UK Health Security Agency has issued yellow cold health alerts for seven regions from 6pm on Tuesday until 6pm on Friday.

A yellow alert is triggered when adverse weather and temperatures are “likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population”. Yellow alerts focus on people who are particularly vulnerable such as older adults and those with long-term health conditions.

The seven regions hit with yellow cold health alerts here: the East Midlands, the East of England, the North East, the North West, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber and the South West.

Yellow alerts also signal to health and social care organisations that they must take extra care to ensure people remain healthy and safe.

Measures that can help include heating homes to at least 18C, keeping windows closed at night, and wearing appropriate clothing.

The Met Office has warned of “unsettled weather” this week with the potential for widespread disruption due to rain, wind, snow and ice.

Met Office chief forecaster Steve Willington said: “A cool pool of air dominates much of the UK for the start of this week, bringing with it blustery showers, winter hazards and the possibility of some disruption at times.

“Initially, the snow risk is reserved for northern parts of Scotland with the highest accumulations — possibly 5-8cm — over the highest ground, though a couple of centimetres are possible to low levels at times.

“North and northeastern parts of Scotland will also see increasingly gusty winds Monday evening and night, with gusts of 50-60 mph possible on some exposed coasts.”

Low pressure from the west and southwest could then bring rain, sleet and snow for parts of southern England and Wales, the Met Office said.

Deputy chief forecaster Steven Keates said meteorologists were “keeping a close eye on low pressure systems to the west and southwest of the UK on Wednesday”.

He added: “This’ll bring moisture towards the cold air in-situ over the UK and brings with it the chance of snow for parts of southern England and possibly the southern half of Wales and the south Midlands.

"Whilst the greatest chance of snow will be over higher ground, there is the possibility of some to lower levels too.

“There is also the chance of further heavy rain affecting parts of southern England, though the extent of both rain and snow will be determined by the track of this area of low pressure.

“There’ll also be some strong, gusty winds, with warnings likely to be issued in the coming days as forecast confidence increases.”