Up to 15cm of snow is forecast in parts of the UK by New Year’s Eve after winter weather warnings were extended. Most of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England are now subject to a “be aware” warning for ice and snow issued by the Met Office for the next two days. On higher ground in areas of southern England from Cornwall to Kent and Essex as much as 15cm could fall, with 3-5cm more likely on lower ground. The Met Office warned of there was a chance that bus and train services might be delayed or cancelled, and power cuts may occur. Police warned against all but essential road journeys in many areas including Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire after a layer of snow fell on Tuesday morning. In east Lancashire, there were “lots of collisions coming in as the snow falls heavily”, according to Terry Woods, the county’s deputy chief constable, while Highways England also cautioned motorists over snow-hit roads. The Derbyshire roads policing unit, also reported “multiple road traffic collisions” as a result of the conditions. The snow also led to disruption to bus services in Manchester and parts of Lancashire. In Stourbridge, west of Birmingham, a police sniffer dog called Frank found a eight-year-old girl sitting in the snow an hour after she was reported missing. The girl was reunited with her family, West Midlands police said. The bad weather meant bins full of post-Christmas rubbish were left uncollected in several areas including Nottingham, Wakefield and Blackburn. Edinburgh Zoo announced it was forced to close on Tuesday due to the icy weather. And the Five Sisters Zoo near West Calder advised visitors against coming due to difficult and dangerous road conditions around the attraction. Holyrood park in Edinburgh was also closed to traffic. The snow on the Salisbury crags above the city was thick enough to snowboard on. The Manchester central MP, Lucy Powell, tweeted that “snowball fights make lockdown much more doable”. The ice and snow are forecast to spread south on Wednesday, hitting some areas still recovering from flooding caused by Storm Bella over the weekend. In the south Cotswolds, river levels started to recede after rain caused homes and roads to flood. The Cotswold district council leader, Joe Harris, called on Thames Water to provide more support and clear raw sewage that had mixed with flood water. He said: “There needs to be a clear plan to prevent river water infiltrating sewage systems on this scale again – it is simply not fair that residents have had to deal with this. We have witnessed carers arriving to provide essential personal care to elderly and vulnerable residents and being forced to wade through sewage contaminated flood water.” A Thames Water spokesman said: “When the river burst it flooded everything in its path including our sewer network along with other utility services. “While sewers are designed to cope with some excess water entering the system, they can’t always deal with the sheer volume of fast flowing flood water pouring into them when nearby rivers burst. “We’ve had engineers in Cirencester in recent days working with fellow partners from the Gloucestershire local resilience forum to pump away water and clean up as best we can where our sewers have been impacted.”