Black ice is threatening travel mayhem on roads

FAMILIES face travel chaos today with torrential rain and freezing temperatures threatening widespread black ice.

The Met Office warned that local authorities may struggle to cope as heavy overnight downpours wash away road grit.

Severe weather warnings for snow and ice have been issued across Scotland, Wales and a large chunk of England through this morning.

Persistent and heavy rain was forecast to hit the North of England last night before sweeping the nation into the early hours of today.

The Met Office said overnight temperatures will dip widely below freezing and struggle to rise above single figures over coming days.

Spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said: “The concern we have is that a band of rain is going to move across the country and immediately behind this is very cold air.

“By the early hours of Friday we will be back into a polar air mass, so after the rainfall we will be back into the next freeze and it’s going to be difficult to keep the roads gritted.

“It looks like councils may struggle to get out and grit all the roads.

“We have warnings out because we think many will be left untreated.

“Heavy rain is likely to wash away a lot of the salt and heavy downpours will be quickly followed by very cold temperatures, so this is something we are keeping an eye on.”

Families will be wrapping up against another very cold night tonight with no end in sight to the cold weather, she warned.

Temperatures in the North of England will sink widely to -3C (26.6F) while the rest of the country hovers around freezing or below, she added.

She said: “We expect the cold weather to continue through next week and probably through the rest of the month.”