Will it snow? Severe cold weather alert issued for England

SNOW is being forecast as far south as London - and charities are warning that thousands of elderly people will die between now and March because of the cold.

The Daily Telegraph reports that "anywhere in Britain" could see snow on Saturday and Sunday as a band of snow and rain moves from the north-west to the south-east.

It adds that London is set to see its first "significant snowfall" today – although the weather map on the BBC currently shows bright sunshine hovering over the capital.

The Met Office has issued its first 'severe' weather alert for the whole of England and the army is on standby should conditions deteriorate to a 'major cold weather incident' level.

Temperatures have been on a downward trajectory since a mass of cold air moved towards Britain from Siberia last week, with daytime temperatures around five degrees lower than normal for February and warnings that they could fall as low as -11C.

Charities have raised fears about the impact of the cold snap on older people, putting them at greater risk of heart attacks and strokes. The Department of Health's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has said around 1,560 people will die a week due to cold weather between now and March - a number which could rise substantially in the extreme cold predicted.

However, England's weather is looking milder than other parts of the world that are seeing temperatures at record lows, such as Eastern Europe which is experiencing arctic conditions. At least 10 people froze to death in Poland as the cold reached -26C yesterday and 43 people have died in the Ukraine in the past five days with temperatures falling to -33C.

Meteogroup forecaster Stephen Davenport says even parts of north Africa face six inches of powder and the Sahara desert, which had no snow for 33 years until a brief fall in western Algeria last month, faces an inch of snow by the weekend. ·