Weekend ahead: Will Harrogate return to normal or will snow return

Harrogate residents hit by burst water pipe incident this morning

Although Harrogate High School and Western Primary School remain open, many primary schools, in particular, across Harrogate district have kept their doors closed, including the likes of Beckwithshaw Primary School; Bilton Grange Primary School, Harrogate; Saltergate Infant School, Harrogate; and Boroughbridge Primary School.

The main roads in Harrogate today are largely clear with traffic lighter than normal, though road works on Knaresborough Road are causing tailbacks again.

But conditions remain treacherous on side roads and residential areas where churned up show has frozen overnight into lumps and bumps and shards making progress tricky.

The Harrogate Bus Company has had to change some of its routes services as the weather has made some areas simply inaccessible, though the number 1 bus is still running between Harrogate and Knaresborough, missing out the Knaresborough estates.

Wintry showers are expected overnight, tonight Friday into Saturday but, importantly, temperatures are also set to rise, forecasters say.

Today's temperatures in Harrogate will remain below zero all day, hitting a 'peak' warmth of -1C at 1pm approximately and a low of -4C, as we speak.

From midnight, tonight, the weather forecast says temperatures will rise to 0C, to be followed quickly from 2am by a prolonged spell of wintry sleet.

As the sleet continues through the night, temperatures will move to 2C, and will keep rising after daylight arrives.

By early afternoon, Saturday, the thaw will improve as the town moves into 5C.

The good news is there will be no return to sub zero temperatures overnight from Saturday into Sunday, a situation which will continue with sunny spells bringing a relatively, warmer end to the weekend.

And current forecasts show no return to snow and ice next week with a mixture of sunny intervals and rain on the cards from Monday to Friday.

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