A week-long amber cold weather alert has been issued for northern England as snow and ice brought hazardous travel conditions across the UK.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office said the amber cold-health alert would be in place until Tuesday 5 December.
The alerts are part of a new system introduced for England that went live this month. The amber cold-health alert – the first this year – was issued because average temperatures are forecast to be 2C (35.6F) or below with wintry showers, icy conditions and some snow.
A yellow alert is for elderly and vulnerable people while an amber alert means the impact of the cold weather is likely to be “felt across the whole health service for an extended period of time, with potential for the whole population to be at risk”.
Agostinho Moreira de Sousa, the head of extreme events and health protection at UKHSA, said it was important that people with medical conditions and elderly people tried to heat the rooms where they were spending the most time.
He said widespread overnight frosts and snow meant “it’s important to check in on the wellbeing of those most vulnerable to the cold”.
The Met Office has a number of yellow weather alerts in place for snow and ice across large parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. The latest alert was issued on Wednesday morning and covers the east of the UK from Shetland to Essex from Thursday 5pm to Friday 11am. It warns of ice patches on roads and paths and snowfall of between 2cm-5cm in some places.
Large parts of Yorkshire and north-east England were on Wednesday waking up to snow with the A169 over the North York Moors closed both ways overnight near RAF Fylingdales. It has since reopened after gritters and ploughs cleared the roadway.
The coach company Coatham Coaches said the main moor road between Guisborough and Whitby was passable but warned drivers to take care because of snow. Driving conditions across the region were described as “treacherous”.
Cleveland police also warned about the risk of thieves taking advantage of the conditions. They said on X: “Please remember not to leave vehicles unattended whilst de-icing, it takes seconds for someone to steal your vehicle.”
Experts say the cold air blast is coming from northern Scandinavia. The Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, David Oliver, said weather models were showing a number of possibilities for the southern half of England and Wales on Thursday and Friday.
He said: “Some models include the prospect of an area of low pressure developing and moving in from the south or south-west. If this solution proves to be correct, we could see an area of warmer and moisture-laden air ‘bumping’ into the cold air further north. Along the boundary of the two air masses lies a zone across southern and central Britain where snowfall could develop fairly widely.”
