Yellow weather warning in place for the North West

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for ice across the North West with some sleet and snow expected.

A Met Office spokesman said: "There will be further outbreaks of sleet and snow this evening and tonight, and the wind will stay strong. Frost and ice will also be a risk, and it will still feel cold. Minimum temperature -1 °C.

"During Sunday the wind will be lighter, however there will still be bands of rain, sleet and snow through the day. The snow will become confined to higher ground though. Maximum temperature 5 °C.

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"Over the next few days it will become milder, although still with the risk of fog, frost and ice overnight. There will be outbreaks of rain, perhaps with hill snow.

The milder weather spells the end of frozen rain - the rare weather phenomenon seen recently which occurs when snow, ice, sleet or hail passes through warm air before cooling closer to the ground and freezing on impact.

But there are still hazards even as the forecast improves.

Northern Powergrid restored power to 12,000 households in Humberside and north Lincolnshire after freezing rain and high winds overnight, with around 3,500 still without power through Saturday.

Outages across the North West and north Wales were also fixed for tens of thousands of homes.

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The RAC said driving conditions were still treacherous across vast swathes of the UK, urging caution, as some main routes previously rendered impassable were reopened.

Overnight, the M62 in Greater Manchester finally started moving after being closed for more than a day.