More snow and ice across UK as cold snap continues

Hundreds of schools in Scotland remained closed on Wednesday as snow and freezing temperatures continued to hit most parts of the UK.

Met Office yellow warnings are currently in place in northern Scotland, while amber warnings for heavy snow were issued in England starting Thursday evening in the Midlands, South Yorkshire, parts of Wales and Gloucestershire, ahead of the arrival of Storm Goretti.

Forecasters say Goretti - named as the first storm of the year by French forecasters - is also set to bring rain and wind gusts of up to 90mph in parts of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Police forces in the Midlands urged motorists to be cautious after an uptick in crashes in icy conditions on Wednesday morning, while nine children were injured in a collision between a school coach and a bus in Reading.

Another bus carrying school children crashed into a ditch in Kent after it skidded on ice. Police said officers and paramedics helped the passengers off the bus, but nobody was injured.

Meanwhile, in Europe, hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

The centre of Storm Goretti is due to pass either through the English Channel or over the English Channel coastal counties on Thursday night, according to BBC Weather.

The storm will likely undergo "explosive cyclogenesis" - sometimes called a "weather bomb". The term is used where the central pressure drops by 1 millibar (mb) an hour over a 24 hour period. Explosive cyclogenesis is generally a sign of a storm that could bring strong winds.

As well as the amber warnings - which run from 20:00 GMT on Thursday to 09:00 on Friday - most of central England and Wales is covered by a yellow snow warning.

This runs from 18:00 on Thursday until midday on Friday, while a yellow wind warning covers the south-west of England for Thursday afternoon and evening.

The greatest likelihood of significant snow will be through Wales and the Midlands where there will be 5-10cm, and perhaps in excess of 20cm, especially into the hills.

There are also warnings of strong winds. An amber warning for "exceptionally strong" winds is in place for south-west England, between 17:00 and 23:00 on Thursday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued amber cold health alerts for England which will run until Sunday.

Further weather warnings are in place for later in the week including a yellow snow warning for parts of Wales and England on Thursday.

The wintry conditions have triggered the government's cold weather payments across 697 postcodes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It means that more than one million households will receive money

Under the scheme, households on certain benefits receive £25 automatically if the temperature is their local area is recorded or forecast as 0C or below for seven consecutive days.

The money is paid automatically into a bank account within 14 days.

A separate winter heating payment system operates in Scotland.

Over the past week, an Arctic blast has drawn temperatures around 4-10C below the average for early January.

More than 1,000 schools closed on Tuesday due to snowfall and low temperatures, with train services also disrupted.

On Tuesday evening, almost all of the UK was covered by the Met Office's warning.

Tuesday saw widespread disruption with hundreds of school closures and disruption on train services including the Eurostar and London North Eastern Railway (LNER).

In Scotland, snow ploughs were used to clear some train tracks but ScotRail services experienced significant disruption.

Aberdeenshire council declared a major incident and warned of "a prolonged period of significant impacts".

Schools in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray, were still shut on Wednesday, while only about 50 of 200 schools are open in the Highlands - where it is the first day of the new term.