A BAND of rain, sleet and snow is sweeping across the county this evening, but it is not expected to settle.

Russell Claydon

A BAND of rain, sleet and snow is sweeping across the county this evening, but it is not expected to settle.

Suffolk is set to largely miss the full force of the arctic conditions which have paralysed some western parts of the UK today.

Only a sprinkling of snowflakes will be seen in the county this evening, but they are unlikely to accumulate, giving way to icy conditions later tonight.

Rail services from Suffolk and north Essex to London are currently unaffected by adverse weather, although National Express East Anglia has reduced its Stansted Express service from one every 15 minutes to one every 30 minutes.

Phil Garner, a forecaster with Norwich-based Weatherquest, said: “We still have a line of sleet and snow coming through but it will be light and patchy and if we see anything it will just be a few flakes that will not accumulate.

“It is going to spread across the county and everyone will see patches of rain, sleet or snow.

“In the west of the county - just west of Bury - there is rain at the moment (3.45pm) and it will reach Ipswich near 6.30pm to 7pm.

“Later tonight is quite icy however and it will freeze later on leading to very tricky conditions on the roads, down to -4C for the western side of Suffolk by the end of tonight.”

Ipswich Town followers thinking of making the trip to Swansea early tomorrow morning are set to be faced with treacherous conditions, with a sharp frost not expected to clear until near midday.

But the Championship clash at the Liberty Stadium looks set to go ahead as The Swans are utilising their under soil heating.

Both of the Severn Bridges - linking Wales to England, were closed down today after several cars had their windows smashed by falling sheets of ice.

Mr Garner said there looked unlikely to be anymore snow falling in Suffolk tomorrow, but there was a chance another flurry could arrive Sunday night.

“We are not expecting any more snowy weather tomorrow, in fact it will be quite the opposite, it will be fine, bright and sunny but the ice will not clear before 11am,” he said. “Even with some sun it is still going to feel chilly - the top temperature is going to be 2-3C.

“There will be another frost tomorrow night with temperatures as low as -5C and another fine day Sunday, with sunny conditions in the morning and a little more cloudy in the afternoon.

“There maybe another spill of snow Sunday night. At the moment it does not look like we will see very much but we may get some accumulation out of it.

“It will be potentially back to the situation of last Monday, but I do not think it will be as bad as that. We may get an inch or two overnight.”

The bitter chill which has descended on the county looks set to stay for up to two weeks, potentially making this winter the coldest for 18 years.