Weather warnings as Yorkshire and north Derbyshire braces for heavy snow and icy conditions

Motorists planning to travel on Sunday are being warned to prepare for journeys affected by heavy snow and ice. The National Highways agency says driving will be difficult and amber weather warnings are in place.

Paul Beecher from the agency said snow is predicted to stay over the Pennines on Sunday, posing challenges for the Highways teams.

Rescue vehicles will be on standby throughout Yorkshire overnight and the notorious A628 Snake Pass between Sheffield and Manchester is likely to close at 10pm as a precaution.

Mr Beecher said: "We have tried to plan ahead and treat roads as best we can. There are a few vulnerable roads, the A628 is probably going to close at around 10pm, that is a pro-active closure, but all the other roads throughout Yorkshire will have got pre-positioned recovery vehicles in addition to our winter fleet.

"Our aim and objective is to keep traffic moving smoothly as we can during this period and seize on breakdowns quickly so we don't get vehicles losing traction, so we are doing as much as humanly possible to keep the strategic road network in Yorkshire and the North running tomorrow."

The advice to drivers is to monitor news and social media and to plan journeys before you travel. For more help visit the National Highways Trip site.

Meanwhile, search and rescue teams, like the one based at Mytholmroyd in the Calder Valley, will have members on standby tonight (January 4) and tomorrow to help the emergency services reach people as roads become inaccessible for ordinary vehicles.

Les Wilson, deputy team leader of Calder Valley Search and Rescue, said: "Accessing remote hill farms in this valley is really quite difficult. Ambulances particularly struggle in those conditions so we are likely to get a request from the ambulance service to meet them on the valley bottom and take paramedics up the hill."

The search and rescue team will have two vehicles and their volunteer crews ready to spring into action all night.

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