THE UK is facing a short sharp cold snap in the coming days as winter approaches.

Luke Mial, forecaster for the Met Officer, said that temperatures would start dropping on Sunday night with Monday expected to be the coldest night of the week with temperatures dropping to -5c or -6c in rural areas and -1c to -3c in towns and cities.

He said that the week would start with two days of cold weather and added: "Monday won't feel particularly warm with temperatures struggling to hit single figures and clear skies will mean quite a cold night and possibly the coldest of the autumn so far in England and Wales.

"Tuesday will continue to feel cold so it's time to start wrapping up as we approach meteorological winter which starts on Thursday."