Follow our minute-by-minute updates of the Arctic weather affecting travel and transport in the Midlands today.

1539: It’s time to wrap up this live blog for another day. Thanks for taking part. Here’s all the links you’ll need:

• Traffic and travel information
• Weather for West Midlands and Staffordshire
• Birmingham Airport arrivals
• Birmingham Airport departures

1522: We need snowploughs, not high-speed trains says Peter Rhodes. Read his full blog here.

1411: And in iPhone weather update time, we’re up to -3C.

1410: The West Midlands Met Office warn of widespread icy roads and heavy snow for both today and tomorrow. The main risk period for tomorrow is between 0000 and 1200pm.

1346: Tom Thorpe has been out snapping the snow today and sends us this photo of the ruins of Dudley Priory.

Ruins of Dudley Priory in the snow

1341: On our sister site, Shropshirestar.com, Emma Suddaby has blogged on the problems she’s had doing her Christmas shopping online. She writes:

1339: Another new piece on our site:

“Christmas travellers have been facing up to spending the festive holiday away from their families after forecasters said there is no thaw in sight before Boxing Day.

Heathrow was operating no more than a third of scheduled flights with just one runway open, while at Gatwick planes were grounded until 6am.”

Read the full story here.

1253: Wolverhampton Council have been tweeting some snow related information. They say:

People have queried whether roads were gritted in Wolves over the weekend – yes they were. Crews went out 8 times using 450 tonnes of salt.

Snow falls on top of salt on road and doesn’t melt automatically. Needs vehicles to go over it to activate and turn to slush and melt.

1225: Staffordshire village weather website Hammerwich Weather and News says: “With a day of cloud the potential of snow flurries is always with us although the radar images show only very light gatherings at the moment.  I would expect a small amount of snow at some point today.  I will again try to keep the situation updated via twitter.”

Take a look at the site for all the wind and air pressure readings.

1211: Have just come across this brilliant map of gritting routes across the region. Red lines mean the road is a high priority, dark blue a medium priority and light blue means it is low.

Map of gritting routes across Wolverhampton and Walsall

From OpenStreetMap.

1151: On Twitter, Walsall Council’s picture of the day of drifting snow in Walsall is a real beauty. See it on Flickr here.

1138: No end in sight to the travel nightmare:

1132: Halesowen Leisure Centre gym has sustained damage to its ceiling due to the cold weather and will be closed until further notice.

1129: Dudley Council have published their affected services. They say that refuse and recycling collections are only being collected from main and passable roads today.

Meanwhile, they are advising motorists to avoid the rush hour periods and be careful of black ice – gritting is less effective below -5C so drive safely.

1125: The UK will freeze until Boxing Day with travel misery expected to last until after Christmas.

1110: For all the latest arrivals and departures at Birmingham Airport today, check these links:

• Arrivals
• Departures

1104: We’ve put together a wintry wonderland picture gallery of pets in the snow. Here’s Barney the labrador:

Labrador Barney enjoying the snow

If you’ve got a picture of your pet in the snow, send it to us and we may add it to the gallery.

1055: There have been lots of reports of parcels struggling to be delivered before Christmas with the snow causing problems. Are you still waiting on any? Have you had to buy replacement presents?

1049: From our main piece on how the Arctic conditions brought chaos to the roads overnight:

“Freezing fog, black ice and snow brought the region’s roads to a standstill as motorists battled against even more treacherous driving conditions.

Rush hour commuters were hit with tailbacks stretching for miles, disrupted bus routes and tunnels closed due to falling icicles last night — and the chaos was set to continue today.

Drivers were stuck in 30-minute jams along Black Lake in West Bromwich today due to the slippery roads and temporary traffic lights.”

Read the full story here.

1045: If you’ve got any pictures of the Midlands in the snow, then do send them to us here. We’d love to see them!

1033: We have a fresh gallery of your photos of the snowy Midlands. Here’s a pretty impressive snow sculpture of the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal snow sculpture

1028: Those of you missing the trusty iPhone updates, it’s currently claiming -5C for Wolverhampton. Here’s a screenshot.

1023: And for all of the weather forecasts for the West Midlands and Staffordshire, head to our weather page. There you’ll see that we’re expecting snow today and tomorrow, but then not again until boxing day.

1015: If you’re driving home for Christmas today then you may wish to check our live traffic and travel updates from the Highways Agency to help plan your route before you leave.

1014: Welcome to today’s Midlands snow live blog. We’ll be looking at travel news, your pictures of the weather and what you’re talking about on Twitter and other social media.

Here is the snow live blog from yesterday.