Met Office issue yellow weather warning for fog and dangerous driving conditions across the North East

A yellow weather warning has been issued by the Met Office for fog, which will be in place from 7pm on Tuesday, December 31, 2019 to 3am, Wednesday, January 1, 2020.

Fog is expected to form quickly during the evening of New Years Eve and persist into the early hours of New Years Day. Freezing fog may develop overnight.

The fog will then lift as cloud increases from the southwest early on New Years Day.

Areas affected include, Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland. The yellow warning also covers the East Midlands and parts of Yorkshire.

Travelling in fog can be dangerous as fog can drift rapidly and is often patchy, the Met Office has said: “Fog may lead to difficult travel conditions expected over parts of northern and eastern England New Years Eve into New Years Day.”

The Met Office warns that journey times may be slower and could cause delays to bus and train services, they also advise for people to drive slowly with dipped headlights, keep an eye on your speed, use fog lights in low visibility, don't hang on the tail lights of the car in front and watch out for freezing fog which is made of water droplets that freeze on contact with objects and can quickly form a layer of ice.