The coldest night of the year in England and Wales sent temperatures plunging to as low as minus 9.4C (15F), the Met Office has said.
The village of Sennybridge in Powys recorded the coldest reading with the lowest November figure since 2010.
In Benson, Oxfordshire, a temperature of minus 8.5 (16F) was recorded.
Forecasters are expecting the cold snap to ease from Wednesday evening onwards as cloud moves across the country - but colder temperatures are likely to be back by the weekend with many areas seeing a fair amount of frost.
The Shetland Islands can expect long but light showers with gales forecast for the far north.
Sky News forecaster Isobel Lang said fog is likely to become more widespread on Wednesday night with tricky driving conditions expected during Thursday morning's rush hour across Ireland, Wales and the Midlands.
Cloud will lift the mercury slightly as it pushes down towards central and northern regions over the next few days.
The Met Office said conditions were slightly colder than the average daytime temperatures for this time of the year.
London and Cardiff are expected to peak at 4C (39F), while Glasgow will reach 9C (48F) and Edinburgh 8C (46F) on Wednesday.
The cold snap comes as the Local Government Association's (LGA) winter readiness survey showed that councils are well prepared for icy conditions with a substantial stock of grit.
About half have reached the limit of storage capacity and gritters will be out treating thousands of miles of road when overnight temperatures plunge below zero.
LGA transport spokesman Martin Tett said: "We are well prepared for the cold, with 1.2 million tonnes of salt stockpiled and a fleet of state-of-the-art gritters ready to be deployed."
Public Health England has warned people to remember that "cold does kill" even in places that are not experiencing the coldest temperatures.
The meteorological winter begins on Thursday and lasts until 28 February.
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