Met Office issues urgent ten-hour yellow warning for fog – ‘avoid travel’

Drivers are being warned of difficult driving conditions overnight and for rush-hour in the morning (Thursday) as the Met Office issue multiple yellow warnings for fog.

The autumnal weather phenomenon is blanketing vast areas of the country overnight from Belfast to Berkshire, and covering parts of Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

In all yellow warnings for the eyesight dulling weather have been issued for six regions of the UK.

Northern Ireland has an alert in place from 3pm today (Wednesday) until 8am tomorrow.

In England, the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West England and London and South East England all are covered by a warning in force from quarter past midnight tonight until 10am on Thursday. Wales has a warning in place for the same time.

The Met Office said: “Patches of fog will become more widespread overnight, resulting in difficult driving conditions in places into Thursday morning.”

And the agency said to expect “slower journey times with delays to bus and train services possible” and the “chance of delays or cancellations to flights”.

It added: “Patches of fog will continue to form overnight becoming more widespread later with the visibility in some places falling below 100 metres.

“With temperatures also below freezing, icy patches will be an additional hazard on untreated surfaces.”

For people driving in fog the Met Office and National Highways advise the following precautions:

• Avoid travel if possible
• Drive very slowly with dipped headlights, full-beam lights reflect off the fog causing a ‘white wall’ effect
• Keep an eye on your speed, fog can give the illusion of moving in slow motion
• Use fog lights, but remember to turn them off when the visibility improves
• Don’t hang on the tail lights of the car in front, rear lights can give a false sense of security
• Watch out for freezing fog which is made of water droplets that freeze on contact with objects such as the pavement, road, car, etc. It can quickly form a layer of ice.

For more information visit the Met Office advice page.