Temperatures in the eastern Dutch provinces are set to fall below zero this weekend, and several centimetres of snow could fall in the north-east, weather forecaster KNMI said on Friday.

Western parts of the country will have rain rather than snow and it will be considerably warmer in the south-west, the KNMI said. 

However, the temperature will drop to as low as -5 Celsius overnight in sheltered parts of the north-east and will hover around freezing point during the day.

The KNMI says the temperature could drop to as low as -7 Celsius later next week.

Meanwhile, website Weeronline.nl says Friday is the first official ‘ice day’ of this winter, with the temperature failing to rise above freezing in the region around Nieuw-Beerta.