THE first heavy snowfall of the season looks set to bring travel disruption in the run-up to Christmas, according to the Met Office.

An amber weather warning for ice and snow has been issued for large parts of Scotland and northern England on Saturday and Sunday, and cold weather, strong winds and heavy rain are expected across the rest of the country.

Temperatures on Friday night will get as low as -3 degrees across much of the country and in the daytime they are not expected to rise much above 2 degrees, the forecaster predicted.

The Met Office's chief meteorologist Steve Willington said: "This weekend's weather brings a range of winter hazards, with the possibility of heavy snow and blizzards in parts of Scotland and freezing rain for northern parts of the UK.

"As such, there is the potential for disruption to travel on the roads and possible delays or cancellations to public transport services, so we encourage people to keep an eye on the latest weather forecast warnings and to take care when travelling.

"At the moment, the heaviest snow is expected over higher ground in Scotland with the chance of drifting snow due to strong winds.

"Snow is also expected to settle at lower levels in Scotland and parts of northern England, with the risk of freezing rain and ice on Saturday night."

On higher ground there could be between 10cm and 20cm ofsnow, with 40cm falling on the highest peaks in Scotland.

At lower levels there will be up to 5cm of snow in parts of Scotland and northern England.

Snow in the rest of the country is "not out of the question", according to meteorologist Sophie Yeomans, and if temperatures go lower than is forecast there could also besnow further south.

The cold weather will be caused by an active low-pressure system moving in from the Atlantic on Friday night.

However the cold weather is not expected to stick around for long, with temperatures expected to get back up to 8 or 9 degrees at the beginning of next week.