Cold alert for South East as temperatures plunge

The cold health alert is in place until Saturday at 08:00 GMT in the South East

A cold health alert has been issued for south-east England ahead of the first sub-zero temperatures of the season.

A UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) yellow alert for Kent, Sussex and Surrey came in force at noon and runs until 08:00 GMT on Saturday.

The agency has warned of potentially "significant" impacts on health and social care services, including a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, plus a likely increase in demand for health services.

Gritters will be in operation on main roads in East Sussex and Kent overnight and on Tuesday morning, with ice and frost expected in some places.

Highways bosses from East Sussex County Council (ESCC) said the unpredictable nature of the weather meant they had been preparing their trucks for dropping temperatures ahead of time, even while the weather was much warmer.

Milder winters mean the council's vans have hit the roads later than usual, officials said.

Speaking at one of the council's depots in Ringmer, Edward Jennings, contract director for East Sussex Highways, said: "In terms of predicting the weather it's very challenging to forecast year-on-year."

The council said it gritted roads if any one place in the region was expected to drop below 1°C (33.8°F).

Earlier, an East Sussex Highways spokesperson said it would grit all its primary routes for the first time this season on Monday, with temperatures forecast to drop below freezing overnight.

Thousands of tonnes of gritting salt is ready to be spread across roads in the South East, councils say

From October 2023 to April 2024, ESCC gritted its roads 32 times, but from October 2024 to April 2025 its gritters were deployed 55 times.

Approximately 700 miles (1,126 km) of roads in East Sussex were treated by 21 gritters across five depots in the county.

Andrew Turner, head of highways at East Sussex County Council, said: "From a travelling public perspective we can be sure that someone driving from Seaford all the way to the north of the county is safe."

The cold health alert issued on Monday is the first of the season.

Kent County Council advises the elderly to try to heat the rooms they use most to 18C (64F).

A spokesperson said: "If you can't heat all the rooms you use, heat the living room during the day and your bedroom just before you go to sleep."