The big freeze which has gripped much of the country will be replaced by rain and wind as Britain returns to a “more traditional winter”, the Met Office said.

Snow, ice and plunging temperatures caused treacherous conditions from Thursday into the weekend across vast swathes of the UK.

With England recording the coldest night of the winter so far on Saturday night, Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said “things are gradually getting back to normal”.

But a yellow weather warning is in place across much of Scotland for snow and ice from 9pm on Sunday until 12pm on Monday, with up to 6cm expected on higher ground.

“Overnight tonight we will see another weather system pushing in from the west and that is going to bring the hill snow to Scotland,” he told the Press Association.

“Elsewhere it will bring rain and stronger winds across all parts of the UK overnight tonight… tomorrow that gradually clears away to the east, with some decent sunny spells developing.

“Apart from south-east England, where that lingers for much of the day, with rain gradually turning lighter, but it will remain cloudy.”

As the country returns to work on Monday he said the mercury could rise to 11C in the South West, up to 9C in the South East and Midlands and 6C in Scotland.

“It is definitely back on track in terms of temperature, where they should be for the time of year, back to a more traditional UK winter for at least a week.

“The rest of the week is just more unsettled weather.”

The warmer temperatures come after a low of minus 11.7C was recorded at Chillingham Barns in Northumberland in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Met Office said.

But while it was the coldest night of the year so far in England it was not as cold as parts of Scotland, where temperatures fell as low as minus 12.6C at Braemar in the Highlands.