THE Met Office has activated nine weather warnings, including two amber warnings, as Storm Bert batters the nation.
Virtually every area of the country is covered by alerts for snow, rain or ice.
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Bert has brought thick snow, heavy downpours and high winds, resulting in travel chaos for many.
A series of major roads have been closed, including a crucial motorway bridge, while trains and ferries have been cancelled.
The Met’s warnings include two amber alerts, both lasting from 7am to midday.
The first is for snow and ice and covers part of Scotland just west of Perth
The second is for snow only and stretches from the area to the west of Bradford to just south of Edinburgh, branching off westwards as far as Dumfries.
Beyond those, there are seven yellow warnings in place.
A pair of rain warnings cover Wales and the South West, while another duo of rain and snow warnings blanket all of Northern Ireland and the area stretching from Nottingham to the Scottish Islands.
Finally, a trio of wind warnings are active: one covering most of the West Coast down to South Wales, one on the South Coast from Cornwall to Canterbury and one on the East Coast from Hull to northern Scotland.
Six of these will last into tomorrow, with only the amber warnings and the final wind warning petering out today.
The Met Office’s Aidan McGivern said: “We’ll see two to four hours of heavy snow across parts of northern England and Scotland during Saturday morning.
“This snow will accumulate thick and fast, with five to 10cm at lower levels and as much as 20 to 40cm over hills accompanied by strong winds.
“You can expect blizzards over hills across northern England and Scotland, atrocious conditions for travelling and going over the hills and also the risk of power interruptions because of snow build up on power lines.
“So all in all, a multiple hazard event as we go into Saturday morning.”
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