Britain's Arctic blast is continuing with temperatures dropping to their lowest for years.

Temperatures plunged to nearly -12C across southern England in the coldest night of the big freeze.

It is so cold on the south coast that the sea has frozen at Poole Harbour in Dorset.

Benson in Oxfordshire and Chesham in Bucks were both close to -12C overnight and the UK's coldest areas, with other large parts of the south also recording -9C and -10C.

Snow flurries moved south from Yorkshire and the Humber, leaving drivers facing another day of wintry chaos. Icy road warnings were in force for north-west England, Yorkshire and Humber and the East and West Midlands.

A total of 34 schools in Cumbria were closed because of heavy snow and ice in the county.

The main M6 and A66 roads remained passable but motorists were warned by police to take care in the hazardous conditions.

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: "The entire fleet of gritters has been out treating the county's core network of priority routes and is now tackling more minor roads that are gritted during prolonged and severe spells of bad weather."

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