London, Thanasis Gavos

Hundreds of motorists were stranded overnight on the M62 in Lancashire, north-west England, for more than seven hours as snow and ice made the road slippery, causing lorries to fold over and block traffic.

Conditions in northern England, northern Wales and Northern Ireland from Thursday evening severe snowstormwhich was even named “Storm Larisa” by the French meteorological service.

Dangerous conditions include snow that is forecast to reach up to 40cm in some areas today and winds of up to 80km/h.

For this reason there are two in force orange warnings for “severe disruption” to transport and electricity in northern England and north Wales.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has issued four lower-severity yellow warnings for snow and ice in Northern Ireland and parts of central and southern England, in effect until just before midday.

It has been raining and snowing in London and the surrounding areas since the morning.

The bad weather is due to a mass of cold air from the Arctic that has moved into Britain since Tuesday, first hitting Scotland where snowfall has been constant and now the roads are covered in ice.

Hundreds schools and there and in the rest of Britain they remain closed on Friday for one more day. And drivers are asked to avoid unnecessary travel in the areas with the most snow and in the places where there are “horrible conditions for travel”, as stated by a representative of the Meteorological Office,

Problems continue on the rail network as well, with ice on the tracks causing disruptions in electrification and fallen trees leading to delays and cancellations. At least one train company in the north west of England has canceled all its morning services for Friday due to the accumulation of snow.

It was temporarily closed early in the morning airport of the East Midlands in Derby.

Hundreds of households on the island of Ireland, but also in Yorkshire in the north-east of England, are without electricity on Friday.

Although conditions will become milder over the weekend, a yellow warning for snow and ice will be in place for northern England and Scotland until early Sunday.

On Wednesday night the mercury fell to -16C in Scotland and -6.6C in England and similar temperatures were expected on Thursday night.