A COLD weather alert has been issued across Sussex with the county set to face chilly conditions until the end of the month.

The Met Office has warned there is a "60 per cent probability of severe cold weather, icy conditions and possibly heavy snow between 9am today and 9am on Sunday, January 31, in parts of England".

Sussex has been raised to alert level one by the weather service, meaning residents are encouraged to be "alert and ready" for challenging conditions.

All of England is now under alert level one, apart from areas of the North East which are under alert level two.

A Met Office spokesman said: "(Conditions will turn) milder for most parts of Tuesday and much of Wednesday, although some colder conditions are likely to persist across northeastern England.

"Rain spreading northeast overnight Wednesday into Thursday has the potential to stall across North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber. As this encounters any persistent colder air, this is likely to turn to a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. While snow is mainly expected across hills, some significant accumulating snowfall is possible to lower levels.

"This will be followed by cold temperatures returning to northeastern parts and continuing into the weekend."

Despite the talk of snowfall, Sussex is not expected to see any of the white stuff over the coming days.

In Brighton and Hove, temperatures are expected to stay between 5C and 10C until Friday before dropping to between 1C and 6C over the weekend.

Heavy rain is forecast tomorrow morning and tomorrow night, between 8pm and 6am on Thursday morning.

Mist is expected to descend over the city between 9am and 11am tomorrow, turning to fog which will cover Brighton and Hove until 6pm.