Severe snow alert in place for drivers on major motorways

Motorists have been told they face 'significant risk'

On Tuesday morning, large parts of the UK woke up to sub-zero temperatures and snow. Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice had already been in place for a number of regions, and snow ploughs and gritters have been working through the night to make sure roads are safe.

However, National Highways has put in place its own amber severe snow alert for roads across the North East and North West, where conditions have been worst this morning.

The impacted roads include the M26 between J21-J23, the M1 at Leeds and Sheffield and the M56 at Manchester.

Motorists have been told they face "significant risk" if they travel on these roads, and have been advised to avoid the areas if possible, Sky News reports.

Meanwhile, National Rail has warned conditions will impact various routes across England, Wales and Scotland, including a number of Northern Rail routes which would be impacted until at least 2pm on Tuesday.

Mersey Rail has also issued an alert warning to passengers about potential snow and ice covering tracks, whilst East Midlands Railway said they were experiencing "disruption on multiple routes due to weather related incidents."

You can find more information about affected rail routes on the National Rail website here.

The Met Office's chief meteorologist Dan Suri said the snowy conditions were down to an area of low pressure which moved eastwards across the UK overnight.

He said: "The associated frontal system, marking the boundary between cold air in the north and milder conditions to the south, will bring disruptive snow to some areas between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.

"This is likely to coincide with rush hour, leading to disruption to some transport routes across a central swathe of the UK on Tuesday morning. It will also be windy in the far south."

The Met Office's yellow weather warnings are provisionally in place until 11am, but freezing conditions are expected to continue into tomorrow as Arctic air sweeps across the entire UK.