Icy patches could cause hazards in Suffolk and Essex overnight - after the Met Office put in a place yellow weather warning for the region.

However, it looks like the region will escape any snowfall - which seems as if it will be contained to norther parts of the UK if it does arrive.

Suffolk and Essex have seen a chilly start to the year, with frosty weather overnight and temperatures not reaching much above 3C or 4C.

Now, the Met Office has put the yellow weather warning in place for large parts of the East of England between 4pm on Monday (January 4) and 11am on Tuesday.

Its warning says: "Icy patches are expected to develop, especially on untreated surfaces, with showers feeding in from east coasts leaving surfaces wet."

Experts have also predicted that we could soon see a similar weather pattern to the phenomenon which swept the Beast from the East into Suffolk three years ago.

Met Office forecasters say a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) could be about to begin, where the temperature of the air high up in the stratosphere soars.

It means winds in the polar vortex could change direction and bring cold air from Siberia into the UK.

Such a storm could take two weeks to develop and there is no guarantee the warming will have any impact, with one out of every three SSW events bringing no cold weather at all.

Meanwhile, meteorologists at the Met Office are predicting widespread frost, sleet and some snow across most of the UK by mid-January.