Fresh warnings for snow and ice have been issued across much of the UK this week as Storm Goretti approaches.

The Met Office has issued a yellow ice warning for almost the entire country on Wednesday, as well as a snow warning for parts of England and Wales on Thursday and Friday.

The wintry conditions later this week will be driven by Goretti, which has been named as the first storm of the year by French forecasters.

Hundreds of schools were closed across the UK on Tuesday due to the snow, after the country recorded its coldest night of the winter so far with a low of -12.5C (9.5F) recorded in Marham, Norfolk.

Some 380 schools have been shut in Wales, at least 300 in Scotland, 203 in Northern Ireland and more than 230 in England.

Rail passengers faced delays and cancellations on Tuesday.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has advised people not to travel between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, adding that there is “major disruption” across its network following heavy snowfall.

Train services in northern Scotland are subject to cancellations, alterations and heavy delays with disruption expected until the end of the day on Thursday, National Rail said, while snow ploughs have been used between Aberdeen and Inverness in an attempt to clear snowdrifts.

Some ScotRail services were returning to normal but remained disrupted on Tuesday evening – although those between Inverness and Kyle of Lockalsh remained cancelled.

Eurostar has warned its services are likely to see “severe delays” and last-minute cancellations.

Journeys to Amsterdam were particularly affected on Tuesday with the Dutch capital seeing widespread rail and flight disruption due to heavy snow along with other areas of Europe.

Parts of Scotland were under amber warnings for snow until 19:00 GMT on Tuesday, which the Met Office says means a higher risk of travel disruption, power cuts and the potential risk to life and property.

Aberdeenshire Council has declared a major incident – adding it was looking at a “prolonged period of significant impacts”.

Less severe yellow warnings covering much of the UK expired on Tuesday morning, while a yellow warning for ice came into effect at 18:00 GMT on Tuesday for parts of Northern Ireland.

Forecasters say more disruptive weather is still to come. Snow was falling as far south as central London by Tuesday afternoon.

While the more severe amber warnings in Scotland will end on Tuesday, the cold blast will continue across the country throughout the week.

The centre of the storm is due to pass through the English Channel late on Thursday with rain from the storm expected to start in south-west England on Thursday morning.

The rain is expected to spread to most of England and Wales but then turn to snow in the yellow warning area issued by the Met Office from Thursday evening.

Up to 20cm of snow is forecast to fall in parts of England and Wales on Thursday night and Friday with a yellow warning running from 18:00 on Thursday until 12:00 on Friday, covering parts of central and southern England and Wales.

A Met Office yellow warning for wind has also been issued for south-west England on Thursday between 15:00 and midnight on the same day, with gusts of 50-60mph, and occasionally 70mph on the coast.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued amber cold health alerts for England which will run until Sunday.

The wintry conditions have triggered the government’s cold weather payments across 451 postcodes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Under the scheme, households on certain benefits receive £25 automatically if the temperature is their local area is recorded or forecast as 0C or below for seven consecutive days.