The Met Office has issued weather warnings across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as areas across the UK have been swept by snow and ice.
Yellow warnings of ice are in place in the East Midlands, North East England, North West England, Northern Ireland, SW Scotland, Lothian Borders, Strathclyde, Wales, West Midlands, and Yorkshire & Humber.
A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place in Grampian, Highlands & Eilean Siar, Orkney & Shetland, SW Scotland, as well as the Lothian Borders and Strathclyde.
A further yellow warning for snow and ice on Saturday is in place Central, Tayside & Fife, East Midlands, Grampian, Highlands & Eilean Siar, North East England, North West England, SW Scotland, Lothian Borders, Strathclyde, West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber.
Amber weather warnings of “severe disruption” were in place in parts of north Wales and an area of northern England stretching from Stoke to Durham.
An amber warning for snow has been issued from south of the Peak District up to the North Pennines, which was in place from 3pm on Thursday until midday on Friday.
The weather has caused chaos for transport. Drivers have been stuck on the M62 motorway for more than seven hours in miles-long tailbacks caused by a night of heavy snowfall.
Traffic was brought to a standstill on long stretches of the road running through Yorkshire and Greater Manchester in the early hours of Friday morning, with some drivers said to have abandoned their cars.
The worst disruption is between junction 20 (Rochdale) and junction 24 (Huddersfield) in both directions, with lane closures and three-hour delays. There is currently 17 miles (27km) of congestion between these junctions.
Simon Peach, the PA news agency’s chief football writer, has been stuck on the road for more than seven hours after covering Manchester United’s Europa League match at Old Trafford in Manchester on Thursday night.
He said: “I’ve moved about 25 miles over the course of the night, and the first 15 miles or so were clear, so I’ve been at a standstill for a really long time.
“Since I arrived I’ve seen maybe two or three police vehicles and a couple of travel vehicles. A road sweeper came along once or twice but they haven’t been able to clear the roads properly.
“I’ve never had to drive through anything like this before. My drive home would usually be about an hour and a half, the most it has ever taken me is two and a half hours. I could have flown to New York in that time.
“According to my watch it’s currently minus 1C, I think at one point it dropped to minus 4C, but according to my weather app it feels like minus 7C.”
Derbyshire Constabulary urged drivers not to travel in the Peak District on Friday morning “unless absolutely necessary” as most roads in the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales areas were “impassable”.
The force said it is working with mountain rescue teams to respond to reports of stranded vehicles.
Hundreds of schools across the UK are closed today. More than 200 schools have shut their doors this morning in Wales, while in Northern Ireland, more than 100 are closed as a result of the snow.
Hundreds of schools across North, South and West Yorkshire, as well as the West and East Midlands, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, have also been forced to close their doors.
Schools in Shetland, Aberdeenshire and Highland were closed on Thursday and it is expected some will remain closed today.
