Met Office issues yellow weather warning for heavy and persistent snow in your area

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the North East, including Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees, and Sunderland, forecasting ‘heavy and persistent snow’ across the region.

The extreme conditions, which are forecast for 9am on Wednesday January 1 and 3am on Thursday January 2, could cause power cuts and interference to other services such as phone coverage, travel delays on roads, cancelled rail or air travel, and could result in some rural communities being cut off.

According to the Met Offices, the conditions will be caused by is a band of rain in association with a deep low pressure system moving in from the west pushes east which is likely to turn to snow as it moves into cold air across the northern half of the UK.

Meteorologists are forecasting between 2-5cm of snow in most areas, while 10cm accumulations are possible and up to 20-25cm possible over hills with significant drifting due to strong winds.