SNOW falling throughout Thursday across the region.

Weather warnings were issued across the North-East and North Yorkshire after temperatures dipped below freezing overnight.

Flurries fell across the region, with some schools closing early and transport services affected.

A family had to be rescued after getting stuck in the snow in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.

Two cars were involved in a crash caused by ice on route with emergency services shutting the A689 Hartlepool Road at around 6.30am. It reopened around 11.15am.

Durham Police and North Yorkshire Police issued warnings to remind motorists to take extra care on the roads.

Arriva North-East bus services were also affected, along with some Go North East routes.

"Service X21 Darlington - Peterlee - Sunderland. We are receiving reports of severe delays to this service due to snowfall between Peterlee and Sunderland," the company reported on Facebook.

Arriva also reported the A66 was closed for a time at Long Newton.

"X66/X67 Darlington to Middlesbrough. The A66 has been closed eastbound near Longnewton. We are diverting via Longnewton and Elton but this will cause delays," the company said.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice, with wintry showers expected to lead to around 2cm to 5cm of snow laying on high ground.

The warning largely affects areas along the region's coastline and as far inland as Durham, Teesside and the North York Moors.

Helen Roberts, a Met Office forecaster, said central parts of England will see cold autumn sunshine, with wintry showers most likely in eastern and northern parts of the UK.

She said: "As the showers push further inland by this afternoon and this evening, we could see them pushing as far inland as the Midlands, and it could turn to sleet andsnow.

"There could be an accumulation but probably not a lot, like the North York Moors, where we have already got a few centimetres.

"Otherwise it will feel cold, with temperatures in the low to mid single figures.

"With the wind chill factor particularly it will feel quite a lot colder in some places. It will definitely feel sub-zero and a temperature of 3C could feel more like minus 3C."

She added that Thursday night going into Friday could be the coldest of the season so far, with the mercury potentially sinking below the minus 6.3C recorded in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, on November 25.

She said: "It could well fall below that to make it the coldest of the autumn. It would be isolated and more widely temperatures are likely to be between minus 4C and 2C so it will be a frosty start and there will be icy stretches.

"We are likely to see further warnings for ice tonight."

The Northern Echo:

Beamish Museum, Stanley in the snow today. Picture: BEAMISH

Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham, sent in photos.

"It might be cold outside, but Beamish is picture perfect in the snow," said a spokeswoman for the museum. 

"These beautiful photos were taken in the museum’s 1900s town. Perfect weather for Christmas at Beamish." 

At 2pm, Cleveland Police said its control room had received 63 reports of road related issues since midnight.

"Please take care on the roads in these wintry conditions," they said.

North Yorkshire County Council has been out on the roads with its fleet of gritters.

“Dealing with severe winter conditions on such a large road network is a complex operation. But it is a top priority to keep the county on the move”, said County Councillor Don Mackenzie, the Executive Member for Highways.

“We continue to grit as required as we strive to keep the roads network open, but during heavy snowfall, such as we have seen this week in parts of the county, driving conditions may become difficult. We could see issues on some roads during this afternoon’s rush hour as snow continues and freezing conditions could also create difficulties during tomorrow morning’s rush hour.

“Our first priority is the major routes that connect or pass through the county’s towns and we will clear these before moving onto our second level of priority routes that provide access to smaller communities.

“We do everything we can to keep traffic flowing, but it is important for drivers to drive with caution and consider whether their journey is absolutely necessary.”

The County Council maintains a £6m annual budget and more than half of its 5,500 mile road network, one of the largest in the country, is gritted on a priority basis. The council has 55,000 tonnes of salt stocks. In addition, there are 8,000 grit heaps and bins.

As well as a fleet of 86 gritters, the County Council can call on 111 farming contractors and a number of road and footway snowblowers to support the work to keep highways open. Gritting crews are on call 24 hours a day and typically start gritting at 5am.

Dozens of schools across North Yorkshire have closed early today as snowfall hit the region.

North Yorkshire County Council published a list of affected schools that is being updated throughout the day.

Among the schools to have shut at lunchtime are Oakridge and Seton Community Primary Schools in Saltburn, many Whitby schools including Goathland, Egton, and Lealholm and St Benedict’s in Ampleforth.

The following schools are closed today due to adverse weather

North Yorkshire

Barrowcliff School, Scarborough

Danby CE Primary School, Danby, Whitby

Ebor Academy, Filey

Egton CE Primary School, Egton Bridge, Whitby

Forest Moor School, Harrogate

George Pindar School, Scarborough

Goathland Primary School, Whitby

Graham School, Scarborough

Hackness Church of England Primary School, Scarborough

Hunmanby Primary School, Filey

Lealholm Primary School, Whitby

Lindhead Primary School, Scarborough

Newby and Scalby Primary School, Newby, Scarborough

Oakridge Community Primary School, Hinderwell, Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Scalby School, Scarborough

Seton Community Primary School, Staithes, Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Springhead School, Scarborough

St Augustines Catholic School, Scarborough

St Hedda's RC Primary School, Egton Bridge, Whitby

Wykeham CE Primary School, Scarborough

Redcar and Cleveland

KTS Academy, Brotton, closed at 1pm today

"We hope to be open as usual tomorrow, weather permitting," say the school.