TIME to pull out the hot water bottles and your thickest pairs of socks because tonight is going to be a chilly one.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of snow and ice for the whole of the north west including Warrington, Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester from 8pm this evening, Tuesday, to 10am tomorrow morning.

Temperatures are set to drop to 2 degrees during the night but forecasters warn it will feel more like a frosty -2.

While the warning includes a chance of snow, for most areas it doesn't look like it will last long and will quickly turn to sleet instead.

A Met Office spokesman added: "Wintry showers are expected to continue through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning leaving surfaces wet and leading to icy stretches developing on untreated surfaces.

"These showers will fall as a mixture of rain, hail and snow at times, the snow mostly over higher ground.

"Some places are likely to see 1-3 cm of snow, mainly above 200 m, with 4-8 cm possible over the higher ground in northwest England, Wales and west Scotland."