Lancashire County Council is asking people to be careful on the roads on Thursday morning following a further weather warning for snow and ice overnight.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning covering the county, with wintry showers falling as a mixture of hail, sleet and snow likely to result in some accumulations of snow by morning. The forecast is for as much as 5cm of snow on the highest routes, with icy surfaces widespread.

The county council's gritting teams will be out in force again, treating routes across the county, with crews being retained to patrol and monitor higher routes which are most likely to be affected by snow.

County Councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "We've been experiencing wintry showers for the past few days, but I'd ask people to pay particular attention to the weather warning for tonight as it could affect their journeys tomorrow morning.

"Higher areas of the county are most likely to be affected, and where necessary our gritting teams will be doing a night shift and continuing to treat the main routes throughout the early hours.

"However, it's important to remember that roads can remain icy even after they've been gritted, and the wintry showers could lead to more difficult conditions on untreated surfaces.

"I'd ask everyone to take care, leave extra time for their journeys in the morning, and drive according to the conditions which can change quite significantly throughout the course of a journey."

Lancashire County Council has a fleet of 45 frontline gritters which can treat the 1,500 miles of the county council's priority road network within around four hours, but may take longer in severe conditions.

For more information about gritting in Lancashire, and what you can do to prepare for winter, visit www.lancashire.gov.uk/winter, follow us on Twitter for news and updates at www.twitter.com/lancashirecc or Facebook www.facebook.com/lancashirecc.