An icy -18.8C is recorded in part of the Highlands, just hours after the region recorded the coldest UK temperature for a more than 10 years

THE coldest UK temperature for more than a decade has been surpassed just hours later – with the mercury already falling in one Highland spot to -18.8C on Wednesday night amid predictions of at least -20C overnight.

Kinbrace in Sutherland is already more than 1.5C colder than Altnaharra's frigid -17.1C last night, which at the time was the coldest temperature recorded anywhere in the UK since Boxing Day 2010.

But with widespread snow cover across swathes of the Highlands, and crystal clear skies overhead, it's likely that the mercury will fall even lower than the -18.8C recorded at 9pm before the night is done.

Related news: Strathspey roads still closed after drifting snow

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