MOTORISTS and pedestrians are being warned to be careful this morning after temperatures plunged below freezing overnight.

The mercury dropped to -3C in Southampton and Winchester and the Met Office says ice may form on untreated roads.

The forecaster has put a weather warning for ice in place until 11am today.

A forecast says: "Ice is expected to form on some surfaces from late Monday afternoon and last overnight into Tuesday morning.

"There will probably be icy stretches on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths with some injuries possible from slips and falls."

Elsewhere, Britain had its coldest night of the year as vast swathes of the country fell below freezing - with -13C recorded in Shropshire.

Clear skies overnight saw temperatures plummet below the -12.4C low recorded on Saturday night - with the Met Office recording a new low in Shawbury, north east of Shrewsbury.

Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are in place until 11am on Tuesday, covering large parts of the country, including London and the South East, much of the Midlands, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as the eastern coast of England and parts of Scotland.

In parts of Gloucestershire, 36 homes were without power for a second night after ice and snow caused disruption across the country over the weekend.

Western Power Distribution said the outage was caused by the weather and engineers were expecting to have the power restored by 7.30am on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, dozens of schools in the South West, West Midlands and Wales will keep their gates closed for a second day following the bitterly cold conditions.

The country will also be waking up to freezing fog patches with rain and hill snow expected later in the day.

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell told the Press Association: "It's still possible that it could go lower but in Shawbury we saw -13C which is the coldest night of the year so far.

"We have to go back to the night of February 13/14 2016 when we saw -14.1C in Braemar for the coldest before that.

"Benson saw -9C and Kew Gardens in London had -4.2C and Teddington saw -4.8C."

He added that there was the potential for a "dusting" of snow on higher levels over coming days, and that there was a risk of problems caused by rain falling in already icy areas.

"It will take a good few days for the snow to melt away," he added.