Households in London have been warned to brace for power cuts and travel disruption ahead of a barrage of snow expected to sweep through southern England this week.

       The Met Office has announced a yellow warning for snow across southern regions including the capital, Brighton and Portsmouth on Wednesday, January 8.

       The forecaster says there is a "small chance" of power cuts and mobile phone coverage outages between 9am and 23:59pm on Wednesday, and warned that upland rural communities could become cut off, with rail, air and road travel also possibly affected.

       "Whilst not all areas may be affected, outbreaks of snow may push in from the southwest during Wednesday, potentially giving some significant accumulations [of snow] in places," a spokesperson said.

       "2-5cm of snow could accumulate fairly widely," they added, "and as much as 10cm over higher ground, especially over east or northeast-facing slopes."

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       The forecaster said: "Snowy wintry weather can cause delays ands make driving conditions dangerous, so to keep yourself and others safe: plan your route, checking for delays and road closures, amending your travel plans if necessary; if driving, leave more time to prepare and check your car before setting off."

       "People cope better when they have prepared in advance for the risk of power cuts or being cut off from services and amenities due to the snow," they added. "It's easy to do; consider gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items."

       Alongside London and the south east, the yellow snow warning will impact regions in the south west including Bath, Bournemouth, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire.

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       Severe weather warnings have also been issued for parts of the UK today after the coldest night of winter so far, with lows of -13.3 recorded in the Scottish Highlands.

       The Environment Agency has put 166 flood warnings and 299 flood alerts in place and major A-roads including the A66 in Cumbria and A49 in Herefordshire have been closed due to flooding or snow.

       Manchester airport's runways were also closed early on Monday morning because of heavy snow but have since reopened. A yellow warning for snow and ice will cover most of northern England and North Wales until midday.