RESIDENTS in York and across North Yorkshire woke up to heavy snow this morning, which has caused major disruption on the roads.

As the day progressed, train passengers faced ever longer delays as East Coast trains struggled to get through the even worse conditions north of the Border. 

After a few hours of sun during the middle of the day, the snow returned in greater force, this time in blizzard like conditions. 

Tonight drivers are facing icy conditions on North Yorkshire's roads as the snowy blast, dubbed the "Beast from the East," continues to hit Britain.

Special constable Chris Hartley tweeted this morning that the A19 is "treacherous", adding: "be safe, snow packed onto road Escrick to Designer Village."

A car ended up in a ditch at the side of the A64 near York eastbound between the turn-offs for the A19 and Hull Road. One lane was shut for a time.

Two lanes on the A1(M) southbound between Allerton Park and Wetherby Services were closed due to a jack-knifed lorry but later reopened.

Another lorry jack-knifed on the A1(M) near Catterick. The road was closed southbound near junction 52, between Scotch Corner and Catterick. All lanes have now been reopened.

The A59 was closed westbound after the A61 between Harrogate and Skipton "due to severe weather conditions," Highways England said. It is now open again after being cleared of overnight snow and retreated with salt.

North Yorkshire Police's Roads Policing Group tweeted this morning that the A171 between Scarborough and Whitby had "very poor visibility and tricky driving conditions."

In addition, the Group said the A169 north of RAF Fylingdales was "impassable" except in a 4x4 vehicle.

Gritters are back out on York's roads this evening with snow ploughs likely to be back in use on some more rural routes, City of York Council said.

Waste and recycling collections in the city and the Hambleton area of North Yorkshire were affected by the snow today.

Hambleton District Council said staff will only access areas where it is considered safe, meaning it is unlikely that many scheduled collections will take place.

In areas where bins have not been collected, householders are asked to take bins back in and keep until their next scheduled collection when excess waste will be taken.

Virgin Trains has announced that due to the heavy snow in some parts of the country, it has lifted travel restrictions across all of its services today, tomorrow and Friday.

This means that anyone who is booked to travel on a Virgin Trains East Coast service today may travel on an earlier or later service than booked, or they may defer their travel until Thursday or Friday if this is preferable.

Anyone who does defer their travel until tomorrow or Friday are asked to travel on a train which is close to the time of their original booked service.

Earlier today Virgin Trains was still planning to run a full timetable over the next few days. However, trains coming from Edinburgh and Scotland were running hours behind schedule by evening. 

The company urges passengers to check its website for the most up to date information: https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/travel-information/travel-alerts/

A yellow weather warning remains in place for snow in York and North Yorkshire tomorrow, while a more severe amber warning has been issued for snow in part of the county, including much of Ryedale and the North York Moors. 

Forecasters say tomorrow will be another very cold day with a strong easterly wind giving a significant wind chill.

Some sunny spells are expected with scattered snow showers at first. It is expected to become mostly dry later.

There will be maximum temperature of -1C.

Click here for a gallery of pictures of the snow in York.