SCHOOLS were closed, planes were grounded and roads turned to ice rinks as the winter's first major snowfall caused widespread disruption.

As predicted, the county was blasted by a swathe of ice and snow which moved in from the west on Thursday afternoon and evening amid an amber weather warning from the Met Office.

While coastal areas did see some snowfall, rural communities further inland were worst affected where some routes were impassable.

Between 2cm to 30cm of snowfall was reported to have fallen across Dorset as temperatures plummeting to below 0 degrees Celsius.

Council gritting teams worked through the night to treat roads and keep motorists moving for the Friday morning commute.

No major incidents were reported.

Planes were grounded at Bournemouth Airport for a few hours yesterday morning while the runway was cleared of snow and the Studland Ferry was suspended until it was safe to resume the service.

A yellow weather warning of ice remains in force today until 11am, but no more snow is expected.

With no county council school transport running, some schools made the decision not to open yesterday.

While this proved a headache for parents who had to arrange childcare, it meant a day of fun in the snow for children.

In Weymouth, All Saints School, Budmouth College and The Wey Valley School were closed and in Dorchester, Thomas Hardye was shut.

The Prince of Wales School in the county town was among those remaining open with teachers using the snow to teach pupils.

And at one point both teachers and pupils took part in a snowball fight.

Emergency services were called to three crashes in Purbeck yesterday as a result of the frozen weather.

All of the crashes happened within close proximity of each other, on the B3351 near Corfe Castle.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they were first called at 7.26am after a car crashed on the at Rempstone.

A black VW Golf flipped and landed in the middle of the road. The ambulance service was then called to the scene, while police closed the road.

Shortly after, a black Audi A1 and a black Chevrolet Aveo crashed off the road after trying to avoid the overturned vehicle.

No serious injuries were sustained.

Later, a broken-down lorry caused problems on the Ridgeway between Weymouth and Dorchester. Traffic was reportedly queuing back to the Stadium roundabout as a result.

Gritters were out in full force yesterday – using approximately 1,800 tonnes of salt.

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said: "We started at 7.45am on Thursday, pre-salting the priority network and the community links. These are the main arterial roads within the county and account for approximately 35 per cent of our entire network.

"Throughout the night our dedicated team worked tirelessly to keep the main roads clear and passable. We utilised our strategic partners to mobilise additional resources to keep the problem areas/high ground clear.

"On high ground locations such as the A37 (Warden Hill), A356 (Rampisham), B3081 (Zig Zag Hill), C13 (Spread Eagle Hill), B3157 (Coast Road), we experienced snow accumulations in excess of 30cm. In lower lying towns and villages such as Dorchester we had in excess of 7.5cm.

"We are pleased to report that the priority network and community links are now clear and passable. Our operatives and gritters will now focus on clearing and treating the more minor roads."

The spokesman added: "Our fleet of 22 gritters haave used approximately 1,800t of salt since Thursday morning.

"The team carried out a salt run at 4pm on Friday and are standing by throughout the night. It is likely that they will do a further one or two actions overnight and into the early hours and carry out a bit of mopping up where needed."

Dorset Waste Partnership said despite the conditions, bin crews managed to complete most rounds.

Dorset County Hospital said it continued to run as normal, and thanked Wessex 4x4 Response team who had been helping getting staff into work and patients home safely.

A number of bus services were suspended, mainly in the villages.

Temperatures will begin to increase over the weekend, although it will remain cold at night.

According to the Met Office forecast, it will be sunny today with temperatures rising to around 5 degrees Celsius.

In the evening this is expected to drop to around minus 1 degrees Celsius.

Tomorrow, will be largely cloudy, but temperatures will rise to 8 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures will continue to increase at the start of next week.