Frozen Britain will endure another Arctic blast of snow and ice as sub-zero temperatures bring more chaos to public transport, motorways and commuters.

Two major airports - Edinburgh and London Gatwick - remained closed on Thursday morning as the country endures what forecasters have described as one of the coldest starts to December on record.

Up to 20cm (8in) of fresh snowfall is expected to fall on the east of England according to weather experts, with London and the South East also being hit by more blizzards.

Temperatures across the UK will struggle to break zero, but experts offered some respite, predicting that the wintry weather will ease off on Friday.

Forecaster David Price, from The Met Office, said: "It will continue to be very cold for most of the country today and in terms of snow it will be a very similar picture to yesterday.Showers will be pushing in from the North East coast and across Northern England all the way through to the east coast.

"A band of snow will continue to affect South East England, with the Home Counties, Kent, Surrey and London all experiencing between 2cm and 5cm of snowfall. Southern counties and Devon will also have snow."

In England, the Met Office has issued severe warnings of heavy snow in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber, the East, the South West and London and the South East.

Temperatures fell to minus 18.6C in the Scottish Highlands on Wednesday night, with warnings also applying to Grampian, Strathclyde, Central, Tayside and Fife and South West, Lothian and Borders.

Mr Price said there is likely to be large amounts of snow on the ground on Thursday, as fresh falls add to already high levels. However, he predicted an ease in snowfall on Thursday night and said that for most, Friday would start off as a "fine" day.

Widespread ice caused major problems nationwide on Wednesday, with the AA attending more than 11,300 breakdowns. The RAC also saw call volumes rise to unprecedented levels for this time of year. The train network continued to run despite the severe weather, with the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) reporting 80% of its timetable operating today, with 66% of trains running on time.