Commuters face fresh travel chaos as Met Office issues flood warnings across UK with freezing fog set to cancel more flights after temperatures plunged to -6C overnight

• It comes as temperatures in Scotland have unusually been warmer than England
• The Environment Agency has issued 23 flood warnings for southern England 

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Commuters face fresh travel chaos today after flood warnings were issued across the UK today after temperatures dropped to -6C overnight.

The Environment Agency (EA) has issued 23 flood warnings across southern England such as Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire with flooding ‘expected’ in these areas.

Forecasters have also urged people to take care as they travel today amid predictions of freezing fog that could make conditions on the roads perilous.

The Met Office has issued a fog warning for southern counties and has warned that it could cause further flight cancellations from some airports.

A walker stops to take photos of a flooded meadow in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on Tuesday

The Met Office is predicting a foggy and overcast start to the day for large parts of England on Wednesday

The EA has issued flood warnings across the Wiltshire Downs, as well as in waterways near Salisbury in the county, Dorchester in Dorset and Taunton in Devon, meaning flooding is expected in these areas.

It has also issued 36 flood alerts across a large parts of southern England including in Brighton, Oxford, London and large parts of Hampshire. 

Flights could be cancelled and journeys delayed because of ‘freezing’ fog in the region, the Met Office said.

It issued a yellow warning, to run until 8am, for fog for an area stretching from Exeter to Oxford.

‘Freezing fog will lead to difficult driving conditions and could cause travel delays in some areas,’ the Met Office said.

Dense fog could see visibility drop to below 100 metres in places, the forecasters added.

Commuters were asked to prepare for longer journey times due to possible delays to bus and train services.

‘There is a chance of delays or cancellations to flights,’ the Met Office added.

Potentially difficult driving conditions are likely due to the combination of reduced visibility and untreated surfaces turning icy.

The Met Office said residents and commuters in Bracknell Forest, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Reading, Slough, Southampton, Surrey, West Berkshire, West Sussex, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham would need to be mindful of the conditions.

Freezing fog blankets Canary Wharf in London on Wednesday morning as temperatures in the capital plunge

The river next to Salisbury Cathedral has burst its banks after heavy rainfall in recent days

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for fog across southern counties today

The fog was also due to hit Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire.

It comes as the unusual temperature divide that has seen parts of Scotland graced with temperatures more than 10C warmer than London persists into this morning.

There were lows of –5C recorded at Benson in Oxfordshire, Farnborough in Hampshire and Wiltshire’s MoD Boscombe Down.

South of the Wiltshire military site, at Bournemouth Airport, the overnight low by 3.30am was recorded as -6C.

By comparison in Glasgow the overnight temperature was a balmy 10C, with Lerwick in the Shetland Islands recording readings of 9C at 3am.

Meteorologists are predicting the normal order will begin to be restored as the day progresses, as temperatures in Scotland drop and those in the south begin to rise.

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