Big freeze continues as Met Office warns of ice and snow for North East

It's been another chilly day across the region with icy patches causing hazardous conditions on roads and pavements.

And despite the bright sunshine, temperatures are still hovering at close to freezing.

The Met Office has issued a warning for ice for tomorrow and is forecasting more wintry showers.

The North East forecast for the weekend:

This Evening and Tonight: Cold with clear spells and a few sleet and snow showers which will become increasingly confined to coastal parts though the night. A widespread frost will form overnight, locally sharp in the west, along with icy patches on untreated surfaces. Lows of -4°C.

Saturday: A cold and frosty start with some icy patches on untreated surfaces. Dry and sunny for most although coastal parts with continue to see a few wintry showers. Highs of 3°C.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday: Remaining generally cold with overnight frosts. Probably becoming cloudier with some sleet or snow at times.

Nationally, weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office for large swathes of the country with up to 10cm of snow expected in some areas.

Icy patches are predicted just as widely, with the Met Office website warning drivers they could face "difficult" conditions.

A Met Office spokeswoman said: "We have warnings out in Scotland for some snow in the west and ice in the south, as well as in Northern Ireland, south-west England and into Wales.

"The east coast will have ice warnings into East Anglia and Lincolnshire and the North East."

On Thursday, two schools in Northumberland were reportedly closed because of severe weather conditions, as wintry conditions spread across the UK.

Network Rail said it had thousands of rail engineers working "day and night" to prevent delays in travel.