Met Office issues amber snow warning for North East

The national weather and climate service has now issued an Amber warning for snow, covering large parts of the North East including Darlington, Stockton, Durham and North Yorkshire.

The warning is in place from 9pm on Saturday, January 4 until 11.59pm on Sunday, January 5.

Forecasters say snow will spread northwards across the region on Sunday, with some areas seeing persistent and heavy snow showers.

Met Office amber weather warning (Image: MET OFFICE)

This comes after a yellow warning for snow and ice was already in place earlier this weekend, affecting Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton.

Around 1-3cm of snow is likely to accumulate quite widely, with 5-8cm possible in places – most likely across the North York Moors.

Icy patches are also likely to form.

The amber warning for snow and ice will affect:

• North East England – including areas such as Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton, and Sunderland.
• Other affected regions include parts of East Midlands, Lincolnshire, East of England, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lothian Borders, Scottish Borders, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Met Office is urging residents to avoid non-essential travel and to extra care on the roads.

Tips include using dipped headlights, accelerating gently, maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles, using low gears downhill, and avoiding harsh braking.