HIGHWAYS chiefs say they are prepared for a return of snow and ice as the next Arctic blast sweeps across York, North and East Yorkshire tomorrow.

Forecasters say bitterly cold weather will return to the region after the brief reprieve of milder conditions over the past few days, with an increasing chance of the region seeing a white Christmas.

City of York Council said it had more than 1,000 tonnes of salt in its stores ready to treat the city’s roads, with another 2,000 tonnes on order. “We are prepared,” said a spokeswoman.

North Yorkshire County Council was unavailable for comment and East Riding of Yorkshire Council never reveals how much salt it has in store, but a spokesman for the authority said: “We are prepared. We are monitoring our stock of salt and continue to receive deliveries.”

Weather forecasters said a belt of rain would pass over the region tomorrow, possibly turning to snow for a time before clearing, and temperatures were then set to remain below freezing throughout both Friday and Saturday.

Aisling Creevey, of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said that pretty much everywhere would be at risk from snow and icy conditions after temperature dropped to as low as minus 5C overnight on Friday.

David Price, of the Met Office, said there would be 5cm to 10cm of snow over much of the country by the end of the weekend.

And Jonathan Powell, of Positive Weather Solutions, said it was predicting a white Christmas, particularly in several areas including north east England.

Royal Mail has announced it is spending £20 million on extra measures to handle the severe weather as it dealt with the busiest posting day of the year.

The postal group said it expected to handle 130 million Christmas cards, letters and packets yesterday.