Heavy snow warning issued for Yorkshire after cold-spell chaos in other parts of UK

There was a dusting of snow in South Yorkshire and those living on higher ground also woke to find a covering of the white stuff. Conditions on the roads this morning were dangerous due to black ice and wintry showers with several accidents reported.

The Met Office has now issued a yellow weather warning for Yorkshire as there is a risk of heavy snow falls on Friday morning. Snow showers are also expected this evening.

Travel chaos

The southbound carriageway of the M1 near Lutterworth in Leicestershire was closed after an accident involving a lorry, with Highways England reporting "severe conditions" on the A14 near Kettering, while another HGV jack-knifed in heavy snow on the M5 in Gloucestershire.

Passengers leaving Stansted Airport were left waiting as the runway was closed temporarily to allow safety checks to be carried out.

Elsewhere, travellers at Luton Airport were also warned to expect possible delays due to sleet and snow, with reported delays of over two hours while crews de-iced their plane.

East Midlands Trains also reported heavy snow between Market Harborough and Kettering resulted in delays.

The band of rain and snow is not expected to clear the mainland until around 7pm on Wednesday, although showers are expected to become lighter and patchy as the day progresses.

Another deep freeze

The latest snowfall to hit the UK comes around a fortnight after hundreds of schools were closed, homes were left without power, and travellers were stranded or forced to stay indoors when a deep freeze gripped the UK.

Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said: "We have had some quickly changing weather overnight with a band of heavy rain and hill snow that started in the south west and is gradually moving north and eastwards.

"That's crossed Wales and is just lying over central southern England and it has brought some snow with it."

Up to 7cm of snow was recorded to have fallen over Exmoor, South Wales and the Cotswolds overnight, while other areas also saw flurries.

Weather warnings in full

The Met Office issued a yellow warning of rain and snow for the Midlands, London and the South East, the North West, South West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

A separate warning for ice has been issued for Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East in England and the Highlands, Grampian, Lothian and Borders, Strathclyde and Orkney and Shetland in Scotland.

As of 10am, the Environment Agency had 14 warnings in place where flooding is expected and immediate action is required, with more than 100 alerts where flooding is possible and people should be prepared.