An amber cold health alert is in place covering Hertfordshire starting this morning.

The UK Health Security Agency had previously put out a ‘yellow’ warning for the area, sharing that cold weather could have an impact on health and social services this week but adding that it was not expected at the time.

However, from 10am this morning (November 18), an upgraded ‘amber’ alert is in place across the East of England – set to last until 6pm on Saturday, November 23.

This means that forecast weather is “likely” to cause “significant” impacts on health and social care services.

Potential effects given include a rise in deaths among those over 65 or with health conditions, difficulty maintaining recommended temperatures for vulnerable people, and a rise in demand for health services.

Hertfordshire is just on the edge of the warning, with neighbouring London and everywhere south of the capital still falling within the ‘yellow’ warning area for the same period.

The Met Office has issued several yellow weather warnings for snow and ice for parts of the UK further to the north.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan has said that despite a “mild” start to the month, the cold conditions are more typical of “mid-winter to late-winter”.

“What we can say is that it’s going to be very cold for the for the time of year, there will be widespread overnight frosts, and a few locations where there’s snow on the ground,” he continued.

In southern England, a typical maximum temperature for this time of year is 11C, but daytime highs for the week ahead are forecast to be around 5C, while some parts of Scotland will reach “only just above freezing”, Mr Morgan added.

According to the government website, UK Health Security Agency weather health alerts are intended to provide early warning to the health and social care sector, the responder community, the voluntary and community sector and government departments when adverse temperatures are likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population.

They can include heat health or cold health warnings.