Forecasters are warning sleet and rain sweeping across the region could turn to ice overnight, potentially affecting the travel plans of thousands of Nottinghamshire families.
The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for most of central and southern England on Wednesday morning, as unseasonably mild Christmas temperatures turned towards freezing.
The yellow weather warning means conditions could lead to icy hazards on roads and pavements, and increases the chances of road accidents.
The warning is in place for 4pm on Wednesday to 11am on Thursday, affecting most of central England’s road and rail network at a time when thousands of families are expected to be returning home or travelling in time for New Year’s Eve.
A Met Office forecaster said: “Earlier rain, sleet and snow across eastern England will clear late on Wednesday afternoon with icy patches expected to readily develop through the evening on untreated surfaces.
“Melting snow across central and southern England on Wednesday afternoon will also lead to some icy patches redeveloping overnight.
“Scattered wintry showers will also affect western areas which may wash off previously treated surfaces. 1-2 cm of snow may accumulate above around 200 metres where showers do fall.”
An additional yellow severe warning for #ice has been issued for Scotland, N.England & N.Ireland . Stay #weatheraware @metofficeuk https://t.co/sJpunQP7ua pic.twitter.com/3dONFV5VId
— Met Office (@metoffice) December 27, 2017
Temperatures are expected to fall to freezing in Notts by 7pm on Wednesday and are predicted not to rise above three celsius on Thursday.
Early on Wednesday the M1 was blocked at junction 19 after a lorry accident, and some homes in Nottinghamshire are still without power after an outage on Boxing Day.
Around 8,800 homes across the East and West Midlands were still without supply by 10.15am on Wednesday, utility firm Western Power Distribution said.
“All incidents are being worked on with no prolonged restorations expected as the poor weather moves away from Western Power Distribution areas by midday today,” the company said.
