Yellow weather warning for ice for much of UK after temperatures set to drop to -10C overnight

The Met Office has put yellow weather warnings in place covering much of the UK this weekend, after Storm Larisa battered vast areas with gales and blizzards.

The ice warnings follow heavy snow that brought treacherous conditions on Friday as temperatures were set to plummet as low as -10C overnight.

It comes after drivers were urged to get behind the wheel only if necessary, with some motorists left stranded due to heavy snowfall.

More snow is expected on higher ground across Saturday and Sunday.

Met Office meteorologist Matthew Box said rain, sleet and snow would push north-eastwards across the country over the weekend, likely falling on the hills and mountains of the Pennines, the Cumbrian vales and some parts of Scotland.

But he added the snowfall would be “nothing to the same extent as what we saw on Thursday”.

In parts of south-west England and Wales, the cold weather will likely give way to sunnier conditions later on Sunday, he added.

A warning for snow remains in place for much of Scotland, with another snow and ice warning issued for northern England on Saturday and another covering parts of Scotland and the north of England on Sunday.

Saturday's yellow weather warnings for ice covered northern parts of Scotland until 9am and Northern Ireland until 10am

A fresh warning for ice covering Scotland, northern England and parts of Wales and the Midlands runs from 3pm today to 6am Sunday.From 7pm, a warning comes into place for the East of England.

Heavy snowfall on Friday left drivers stranded for more than seven hours on the M62 in Greater Manchester and Yorkshire.

National Highways North West estimated that at one point congestion on the eastbound carriageway between Rochdale and Saddleworth stretched to around eight miles.

Emergency services also rescued eight people who were trapped in heavy snowfall for more than 12 hours in Staffordshire.

Staffordshire Police said “artic conditions” since Thursday night caused a number of vehicles to get stuck – particularly on the A53 and the A523 near the town of Leek.

It said some people were stranded inside their vehicles in sub-zero temperatures for more than 12 hours.

National Highways warned against unnecessary travel as weather conditions deteriorated on Friday night.

Public transport was also been affected, with Network Rail saying multiple fallen trees had blocked lines between Manchester and Sheffield, meaning no trains could run.

Train operators TransPennine Express and Northern were affected, with many services cancelled, and Merseyrail, which runs services in Merseyside and surrounding areas, delayed the start of its operations on Friday.

Air travel was also affected, with the majority of flights departing Liverpool John Lennon Airport delayed on Friday morning.

East Midlands Airport was closed for around three hours and flights were suspended at Birmingham Airport for around an hour to clear snow from the runway, and there were also delays to flights at Bristol Airport.

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