ICE and snow will continue to plague Hampshire’s roads for the next couple of days as winter maintains a cold grip on the region.

The Met Office has issued warnings for motorists that freezing temperatures today and tomorrow will make driving conditions treacherous, with lethal black ice on the region’s smaller roads.

From around 3am Wednesday morning, the Met Office predicts outbreaks of sleet or snow up until the mid-morning, prompting the agency to issue a yellow warning.

Snow flurries are expected further inland but only less than half an inch (1cm) while rain and sleet is expected along the coast. With temperatures below freezing the water is expected to turn to ice.

However, the Met Office does not expect the cold snap to last much longer.

“We’re going to see an awful lot of change in temperature over the next few days. It’s still going to be cold day and night and there’s still a chance for ice on the roads,” said Charlie Powell, from the Met Office.

Tomorrow and Thursday are going to be dry but cloudy while rain and winds are expected for the weekend.

Temperatures are still going to drop below freezing tomorrow night, with lows of about minus four, but are going to rise to a relatively balmy four degrees centigrade by Saturday.

Most schools returned to normal opening hours today, and the majority of public transport services have also returned to running normal timetables from today.