Commuters told to check for disruption after ice warnings issued across UK

Commuters are advised to check for disruption with ice warnings in place across the UK ahead of a storm which is set to bring heavy snow later in the week.

The Met Office has issued yellow ice warnings for most of the UK, including Northern Ireland, for Wednesday morning after an Arctic air mass brought wintry showers across the country, including London and the Home Counties.

A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place all day on Wednesday in northern Scotland, with residents there told to expect a further 5-10cm of snow.

Temperatures are expected to drop as low as minus 6C in parts of rural Scotland and just below freezing more widely overnight, the Met Office said.

Forecaster Marco Petagna said: “There will be icy conditions quite widely to start the day tomorrow and then sleet and snow showers continuing across Scotland.”

He added: “In the ice warnings, be careful of slippery surfaces and potential for injuries, so take care on footpaths.

“Icy patches could affect untreated roads, not all roads and pavements and cycle paths are treated so just be aware that away from major highways there could be icy and slippery conditions for a while tomorrow morning.”

The Met Office has advised those travelling on Wednesday morning to check road conditions, bus and train timetables and amend travel plans if necessary.

A yellow warning means some disruption is possible, such as travel delays, but many people can continue with their daily routine, according to the forecaster.

Meanwhile, a yellow weather warning for snow, expected in a large part of England covering Sheffield, Peterborough, Bath and Worcester, and in much of Wales, will be in place from 6pm on Thursday until midday Friday.

The severe wintry weather will be brought by the strong winds over northern France, named Storm Goretti by the country’s forecaster, Meteo France.

Snow is likely to develop over higher ground in South Wales late on Thursday, before rain turns to snow more widely across England and Wales overnight, the Met Office said.

Some areas could see 5-10cm of snow settle, while others could see as much as 20cm.

Storm Goretti is also expected to bring disruption in south-west England, with a yellow warning for strong winds in place for Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly from 3pm on Thursday until just before midnight.

The recent drop in temperature has triggered cold weather payments for hundreds of thousands of households, designed to help elderly and vulnerable people with heating costs, the Government said.

Eligible households automatically receive £25 when temperatures are recorded or forecast to be zero degrees or below over seven consecutive days.

Payments will support households in 451 postcode areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including Penrith in Cumbria, the Yorkshire Dales, Norwich in Norfolk, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, and Crawley in West Sussex.

Cold weather payments have been triggered on five separate days, December 30, January 1, January 2, January 3 and January 6, and have been triggered twice for households in parts of Cumbria and Northumberland, which stand to receive a £50 payout.

It follows the coldest night of the winter so far, as temperatures plummeted to as low as minus 12.5C in the UK, following a day of school closures and travel disruption on Monday.

The lowest temperature was recorded in Marham, Norfolk, while Santon Downham in Suffolk, and Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, both saw a low of minus 10C, the Met Office said.

In Scotland, the night was coldest in Dalwhinnie and Tulloch Bridge, where temperatures dropped as low as minus 11.2C and minus 10.7C.

An overnight low of minus 9.6C was recorded in Bala, a market town within Snowdonia National Park in North Wales.

Hundreds of schools were forced to close across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Tuesday morning, while National Rail warned of service cancellations and disruption to train services.

Aberdeenshire Council has declared a major incident as the region deals with ongoing heavy snow.

The local authority says there is a “good chance” some rural communities will be cut off and there may be power cuts. Schools in the area will be also closed for a third day on Wednesday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has extended amber cold health alerts for England as an early warning that adverse temperatures are likely to affect health and wellbeing, running until Sunday.

Tuesday morning saw disruption to Wirral and Northern line services, and to trains across Scotland, National Rail said, while breakdown companies including the AA and RAC are experiencing high demand.

The train operator LNER, which runs the east coast mainline, has extended its advice to passengers not to travel between Edinburgh and Aberdeen as they “cannot guarantee” trains will operate until this Friday at the earliest.

A spokeswoman for the AA said its teams had attended almost 13,000 breakdowns by 4pm on Tuesday while the RAC said drivers in the worst-hit areas “need to be considering whether it’s safe to get behind the wheel”.