HURRICANE Oscar is set to batter the UK with wind and rain after freezing conditions gripped the nation.

Brits woke up to icy temperatures again this morning, after lows of -5.9C in Northern Ireland marked the coldest night of the autumn so far - with winter still a day or so away.

And the cold snap is set to develop into a "messy picture" in a few days' time, as the 15th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season threatens to bring unsettled weather to British shores.

Though it won't make landfall, Oscar's effects are set to be felt across the UK towards the end of this week.

Met Office Meteorologist Steve Keates forecast: “It’s a fairly messy picture to take us into for the start of the week and we’ve got very similar conditions for the middle part of the week too.

“This low pressure spinning about on the Continent across the North Sea bringing some wet weather to eastern areas.

“A little area of low pressure trying to push in from the west, so as you can imagine it’s quite a battleground situation across the UK.

“But hopefully you’ll notice that the blues are slightly becoming greener and eventually yellow, indicative of those temperatures rising a little bit mid-week.

“This system out towards the west is what will be called Hurricane Oscar and could bring some wet and windy weather towards the end of the week."

As of Sunday, the storm was centered around 800 miles south east of Bermuda, with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 115 miles from the centre.

Met Office weather expert Bonnie Diamond explained how the weather would pan out as the week goes on.

"Things are going to turn more unsettled towards the end of the week, especially on Friday going into Saturday," she told The Sun Online.

"There's a chance of severe gale winds coming in from the West.

"It's unclear at this stage whether the bad weather is directly connected to Oscar or not, one of our forecast solutions suggests it is.

"But either way, there are going to be very strong winds and rain into the weekend."

The next few days will be predominantly cold and dry across the UK, with highs today of 10C.

Tonight's temperatures could drop to -3/-4C in the Highlands and could even fall as low as last night's -6C.

Most Brits will enjoy a dry, cold, day, but those in the South East would be wise to have a brolly handy.

Ms Diamond explained: "The exception to the dry weather is the South East, with Storm Adrian set to bring some rain and stronger winds to the East Anglia, Kent, the more coastal areas.

"There'll be stronger winds, cloud and rain, and you will get wet."

This weekend Brits woke up to white showers sweeping across North East England and Scotland.

The freeze comes after Britain basked in temperatures of 27C in some areas two weeks ago.

No further snow is yet forecast for this week, after what the Met Office described "some of the coldest October days in a decade".