A blanket of snow covers Aberdeenshire Photograph: Michael Traill Parts of Britain woke up to a blanket of snow as the recent spell of unseasonably warm weather was replaced by wintry conditions and predictions of sub-zero temperatures. More than six inches of snow fell in the space of four hours in parts of Scotland on Monday night as an Arctic weather front bore down on the UK. And after one of the warmest Marches on record forecasters are warning Britons to get their jumpers and scarves back out with temperatures set to plummet to as low as -5C on Tuesday night as the cold front moves south. Around 10cm of snow has carpeted most parts of northern Scotland, with 17cm recorded in Aviemore in the Highlands and temperatures of close to -2C in Glen Ogle. Scotland's central belt was also hit by the wintry weather, which will gradually creep into northern England, parts of Wales and the Midlands over 24 hours. Aisling Creevy, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "A slow moving Arctic front has brought a wintry mix of weather to parts of Scotland overnight with snow, sleet and rain in northern and central areas. Snow and rain showers will continue in Scotland throughout the day and move into northern England before reaching the Midlands tomorrow morning. A raw north-easterly wind will also make it feel very cold with the wind-chill taking a two or three degrees off the actual temperature. Tomorrow the UK will be noticeably colder and feeling quite raw and we could get widespread lows of around -5C in Scotland overnight. Temperatures during the day in northern Scotland will range from 2 to 5C, MeteoGroup said, with England getting the brunt of the freezing weather on Wednesday. The Met Office has issued an amber severe weather warning for snow in four areas of central and northern Scotland, advising the public to be prepared for transport disruption with ice developing on untreated roads. However, Creevy said the cold snap would be shortlived with temperatures recovering on Thursday. London and the south-east should escape the snow with temperatures of around 13C on Tuesday before dropping to around 8C on Wednesday, she said. The weather is in stark contrast to March's mini-heatwave - the only years to have had a warmer March in the past 100 years were 1938, 1948, 1957, 1990 and 1997. Paul Mott, senior forecaster at MeteoGroup, said: "The weather in March has been quite exceptional. There were a number of Scottish records that were broken and some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in March. A new March Scottish temperature record of 23.6C was set in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, last week but the mercury dipped below freezing and snow fell in the town overnight.