Several schools across East Lancashire are still closed today (January 18) due to the icy weather conditions.

Temperatures dipped below freezing last night and temperatures are only forecast to peak at 1°C today.

While no more snow is currently in the forecast for Lancashire, roads and paths remain icy.

In the Ribble Valley, Gisburn Primary School remains closed due to icy conditions around the site. This impacts the whole school.

A spokesperson said: “There are ongoing unsafe icy conditions on roads, carpark, at school and surrounding area.”

In Pendle, Coates Lane Primary School, in Barnoldswick, and Pendle View Primary School, in Colne.

In both cases the whole school is closed.

The artic blast caused chaos across Lancashire this week, leading to business closures and travel chaos.

In Blackburn, the icy conditions even caused a bus to crash into the doors of the bus station.

According to the Met Office, the county is set to thaw from Friday (January 19) when the cold Arctic air currently in place over the UK will start to be displaced from the south, with a return to milder Atlantic air from the west.

While temperatures will increase from the markedly low figures of recent days, this change in airmass will also introduce the likelihood of a return to wet and windy weather for most through the weekend.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Dan Rudman said: “While the next few days will remain cold, we can see a change in weather type on the way, bringing milder air for the UK and returning temperatures to around average for the time of year from Friday onwards and well above average into next week.

“This change will initially be relatively benign in terms of weather impacts, with a dry Friday and start to Saturday for many in the south of the UK.

"The Atlantic influence will then introduce some wet and windy weather, with a deep area of low pressure approaching from the west on Sunday.

"While detail is still being worked out, this has the potential to bring heavy rain and strong winds for some, and we’ve issued an early warning for a large part of the UK.”