Fresh warnings issued as 'severe' band of weather brings snow and high winds

Drivers have been warned over icy roads and flights were hit as a fresh band of "severe" weather hits the UK today.

Parts of northern England and Scotland woke up to a blanket of thick snow on Friday after one of the coldest nights of the year.

Weather warnings for ice have been issued for much of the UK on Friday.

Meanwhile the south west of England was lashed by torrential downpours, lightning and strong winds, with warnings that the storms could cause power outages.

A yellow warning for snow has been issued for southern and eastern Scotland, northern England and the Midlands until 3pm.

The heaviest snow fall of 5cm-10cm is expected in parts of northern England and up to 15cm over higher ground.

Across the south-west coast meteorologist Emma Sharples said a "squally feature "moving eastwards was "quite active and giving some high rain rates", with thunder and lightning and gusts of up to 50mph recorded.

A yellow warning has been issued by the Met Office for strong winds expected over parts of south-west England and southern Wales across to Greater London, bringing "potent, heavy showers with a chance of hail and thunder" as the system moves eastwards.

• Video courtesy of Kirsty Matheson, at Glasgow Airport

In an icy start to the day, Glasgow airport briefly suspended flights on Friday morning due to heavy snowfall.

It was forced to cancel 14 arrivals and 12 departures between UK and Irish destinations, and warned some knock-on delays were possible throughout the day.

Drivers were warned to take extra care in icy conditions, with emergency services reporting there have already been a number of accidents.

The Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service said people should only make car journeys "if you really need to".

Highways England issued a severe weather warning and urged people to plan their journeys, monitor weather reports and pack a snow kit of blankets, food, water and a shovel if they really need to travel.

Devon and Cornwall Police said the A39 near Bideford in Devon was partially blocked due to a fallen tree and there was flooding on the A3075 near Newquay in Cornwall.

Elsewhere, snow caused disruption across many roads, with Cumbria Police warning on Twitter that all routes in the south of the county were affected, as well as the M6.

Pete Williams told the Press Association that the RAC was "very, very busy across the UK" on Friday morning.

He said the snow around Doncaster, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, and across central and southern Scotland was causing problems, as well as the wind and heavy rain in the south west.

Mr Williams advised drivers within the amber snow warning to "really consider whether their journey is entirely necessary".

Meanwhile the AA said they had received more than 1,687 breakdown calls before 10am on Friday, with 10 cases of vehicles being stuck in snow.

The AA said that the worst areas on the roads were around Manchester and Cumbria, and that the A6 in Cumbria, the Snake Pass and several roads around Macclesfield were closed.