The Westcountry is warned to brace for more of the big chill as the bitter cold extends over the weekend.

The region might just miss out on the heavy snowfall forecast for other parts of the country but, with cloud cover only managing to coax the temperatures up above freezing, the conditions are likely to prove challenging including rain and some sleet on higher ground.

Severe weather warnings are in place across the country until Sunday, with forecasts of snow for many areas.

The Westcountry suffered some of the coldest conditions in Britain yesterday after temperatures plunged to overnight lows of minus 11 degrees in rural areas.

Emergency food parcels were offered to the elderly to tide them over the weekend and a homeless charity called for supplies of warm clothing to help rough sleepers in Cornwall as demand spiralled. Listeners to BBC Radio Cornwall phoned in to report the lowest temperatures around the county, with Coades Green, to the east of Bodmin Moor, recording an Arctic minus 11C.

Temperatures plummeted to minus nine degrees in Tintagel during the early hours of Friday morning, and minus eight degrees were recorded at Altarnun, near Bodmin.

In Devon, officially recorded lows of minus six were registered at Barnstaple and Dunkeswell, while Plymouth managed minus five.

A fleet of gritting lorries were out salting 1,700 miles of Devon's main routes between 2.30pm and 7pm yesterday, and again at 4am this morning, as road surface temperatures were set to drop to as low as minus 10 in places.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council's cabinet member for highways, said: "I would urge drivers to take extra care when travelling, particularly overnight. Ice is a potential problem across the county because road surface temperatures are staying so low."

The Met Office raised fears for the elderly and ill by issuing its first country-wide Level 3 Cold Weather Alert of the winter.

The alert, which is the second most serious, is tied in to the Government's Cold Weather Plan and is relayed to organisations such as Age UK, which help the elderly through winter.

A Met Office spokesman said: "This weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services."

Jenifer Gardner, who helps run a food bank in the Camborne and Redruth area, said special cold weather food parcels would be handed out to the elderly in need to tide them over the chilly weekend. She said: "We have got quite a few tins of soup and beans which will help keep older people warm over the cold weekend. For some pensioners it's a choice between eating and heating and that's not a choice we want them to have to make."

Any elderly person wanting a food parcel should go to the Centenary Chapel in Camborne between 12 and 1.30pm today with proof of pension support or other benefits.