Heavy overnight snow in Wales and northern England is causing travel disruption as the new year gets off to a frosty start.
Two amber weather warnings from the Met Office have been put in place in England and Wales. Snowfall of 3cm to 7cm is predicted, with freezing rain likely to follow, creating treacherous conditions.
The Met Office said Bingley, West Yorkshire had seen 12cm of snow up to 7am on Sunday, with Shap in Cumbria and Capel Curig, Gwynedd both seeing 10cm.
One amber warning for snow and freezing rain, which covers much of Wales and the Midlands and as far north as Manchester, is in place until midday on Sunday. Higher ground in Wales and the southern Pennines could see 15cm to 30cm of snow, the forecaster said, with milder air leading to a rapid thaw in the south of the warning area through Sunday.
The second amber warning for snow, covering most of northern England including Leeds, Sheffield and the Lake District, is in place until midnight on Sunday. The Met Office said some rural communities could be cut off, with up to 40cm of snow on ground above 300 metres before conditions ease later on Sunday.
Manchester and Liverpool John Lennon airports both closed their runways on Sunday morning due to heavy snow. Manchester said its teams were working to clear them as quickly as possible after heavy snow around 7am.
Birmingham airport suspended operations for several hours overnight “for snow clearing and safety reasons”, but started the morning on schedule. Bristol airport reopened around 11pm after an earlier closure but warned of delays on Sunday morning. All the affected airports, and Belfast international airport, urged passengers to check with their airline.
National Highways warned up to 25cm of snow could hit roads in northern England, resulting in closures and a risk of ice, while National Rail said the line between Leeds and Halifax via Dewsbury was closed in both directions, with disruption on northern routes expected into Monday.
In Devon, the Environment Agency issued two flood warnings – with flooding expected on Sunday morning – on the River Taw and the River Torridge.
The National Grid said it had been working to restore power after outages across the Midlands, south-west England and south Wales on Saturday and Sunday morning.
As well as the amber warnings, the Met Office has issued yellow warnings covering almost the entire country across the weekend. A yellow warning for snow and ice covers most of the remaining parts of England and Wales until midnight, while a similar warning covers large parts of Northern Ireland from 6pm on Sunday.
The north of Scotland is covered by a yellow warning for ice until 10am on Sunday, with another for snow and ice in the east of central Scotland until 6am on Monday. There is also a yellow warning for rain covering much of Wales and the West Midlands on Sunday from 6am to 9pm.
UK Health Security Agency cold weather health alerts for all of England remain in place ahead of a week of low temperatures. Amber alerts were issued on Thursday and would run until Wednesday, meaning a rise in deaths was likely, the agency said.
Councils across London and southern England have introduced emergency measures for rough sleepers including additional accommodation.
The Met Office forecast the sleet and snow would continue to push north and eastwards on Sunday, falling heaviest in northern England and southern Scotland before turning into snow showers in northern Scotland arriving on Monday.
After a period of freezing rain, the south will turn milder. Frost and icy patches will continue through the early part of the week, but Monday and Tuesday will become drier with sunny spells and scattered wintry showers, although temperatures will remain below average.