HEAVY snow is expected to hit Huddersfield tonight.

But gritting crews have already fired the first shots in the battle to keep open the town's roads.

Thirty-four gritting crews were out late yesterday and again early this morning to spread tons of rock salt on many roads.

They also targeted car parks around the Huddersfield town centre to help shoppers and workers.

And they were standing by to do another grit run late this afternoon if the weather forecast remains unchanged.

Snow did hit many parts of East Yorkshire early today, causing problems for drivers, and was expected to sweep south and west by this evening.

Sleet had been forecast for Huddersfield last night but very little fell, allowing the highways teams to scatter more than 140 tons of grit on the roads.

The council has huge stockpiles of grit, comprising 90% rock salt and 10% clay particles, at depots around the district.

* A web address for the weather channel of icHuddersfield has been set up with five-day weather forecasts for the area.

The address is www.ichuddersfield.co.uk/weather