UPDATE: Hotmail and Outlook are now running normally.



“A few Microsoft services experienced an outage that affected customers’ access to these services. The issue was resolved for most services yesterday afternoon, and Hotmail and Outlook.com were restored to normal this morning," a Microsoft spokesperson told Mashable Wednesday afternoon. "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this caused our customers.”



UPDATE: As of 1:13 a.m. ET on Wednesday, both Hotmail and Outlook are still experiencing problems. Microsoft's service status dashboard says, "We're working to restore service right now."

Some Hotmail and Outlook accounts have been down for hours, after getting hit by service disruptions Tuesday afternoon.

"We're having a problem accessing email. You might not be able to see all your email messages. We're working to restore service right now," according to Microsoft's service status dashboard. Both web apps have been experiencing issues since 5:35 p.m. ET, the notifications added.

SEE ALSO: Outlook.com Officially Replaces Hotmail, Boasts 60M Users

Microsoft will update users at 1:12 a.m. ET. It previously provided reports at 11:11 p.m. ET and 9:12 p.m. ET, telling users, "We're still working on the problem."

Those affected are airing their grievances on Twitter.

I'm Having problems with #hotmail it went down few hours ago and I need to get into my mails! @hotmail — Alonso de la O (@Alonsodelao) March 13, 2013

Hey @hotmail this is twice in a week that your email service went down!! NOT HAPPY!!! — FirstGlance Films (@FirstGlanceFilm) March 12, 2013

Struck in path.. couldnt access my mail boxes from morning :( Hotmail is down again ! @hotmail — Rajasekaran G (@Im_grs) March 13, 2013

Anyone having problem with Hotmail?? I need to check my emails but its been down since this morning :( — Epicurious Annie (@AnnieIndra) March 13, 2013

Not happy right now. #hotmail is down and has been for hours. Anyone know why? — bwhetstone (@bwhetstone) March 13, 2013

Problems also cropped up for SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud-storage service, around 6:41 p.m. ET; but they were resolved three hours later.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. We will update this story as it develops.

Have you been affected by the service disruption? Tell us in the comments, below.

Screenshot image courtesy of MSFTOutlook via YouTube